EFFECT OF THE PROTECTIVE SYSTEM ON THE

STAPLES OF THE SOUTH.

NATCHEZ, MARCH 13, 1830.

[MR. CLAY, still in private life, on returning from New Orleans, in the spring of 1830, was entertained by a public dinner at Natchez, at the date above given, the Hon. Edward Turner, Judge of the Supreme Court of Mississippi, presiding, who, after a complimentary speech in honor of Mr. Clay, read the following toast:

"Our distinguished guest-the firm and patriotic statesman; the grandeur and usefulness of his political views can only be surpassed by his eloquence and ability in advocating them."

To which Mr. Clay replied in substance as follows

MR. PRESIDENT AND FELLOW-CITIZENS-I not only rise in gratitude for the favorable opinions you entertain of me, but to avail myself of an opportunity to acknowledge my sense of the honors conferred upon me by my fellow-citizens of Mississippi. I did, indeed, expect to receive from them such kind attentions, as they are celebrated for extending to every stranger having had the satisfaction to visit them; but it is my pride to acknowledge, that those paid to me, have far, very far, exceeded my expectations; to have received and not acknowledge how sensible I am of them, would seem an affectation of concealing feelings, which I ought to rejoice in possessing, and which justice to myself, as well as to those who bestow this kindness, requires of me to avow.

Ere I landed on your shores, your welcome and congratulations came to meet me; and they came too the more welcome, because I saw commingling around me, citizens, who, though at variance on political subjects, do not suffer their differences to interfere with the claims, which, as friends and as countrymen, they have on each other; and if I have done aught deserving their approbation as well as their censure, believe me, in all that I have done, I have acted in view of the interest and happiness of our common country.

* It should be observed that this speech is only a condensed statement from a Natchez paper

There is nothing in life half so delightful to the heart, as to know, that, notwithstanding all the conflicts that arise among men, yet there comes a time when their passions and prejudices shall slumber, and that the stranger guest shall be cheered in seeing, that whatever differences may arise among them, yet there are moments when they shall cease from troubling, and when all that is turbulent and distrustful among them, shall be sacrificed to the generous and social dictates of their nature; and it would be to me a source of great satisfaction to think, that a recollection of the present would act as a mediator, and soften the asperities of your divisions, as circumstances and events may renew them.

The gentleman who sits at the head of this festive board, and near whose person your kind consideration and courtesy has placed me, was the companion of my early days; and neither time nor distance have weakened in him the feelings which began with our youth, the strong and bright evidences of which are shown in the narration he has given of my public services. But I fear that he has rather conceived me to be what his wishes would have me; and that to these, more than to my own deservings, must I attribute his flattering notice of me.

He then adverted to that part of Judge Turner's address which spoke of Mr. Clay as the decided advocate of the late war. We can not attempt to draw even the outlines of his observations, or to portray the feelings he discovered while depicting the part which Kentucky acted in the war; of the volunteers she sent forth to battle, of the privations she suffered, of the money expended, and of the blood that flowed from her sons, in supporting the nation in the defense of her rights and independence. The expression of his eye, his attitude, and gestures, evinced how deeply the subject affected him. The people of Kentucky, he said, acted nobly throughout the whole contest; and whether in defeat or in victory, she still showed the determination to sustain the American character, and to maintain American independence; and it would be only to repeat, what was a common observation among the people of his State, to say, that their countrymen of Mississippi, acted with a spirit during the war worthy the best days of the Revolution.

In speaking of the invasion of Louisiana, and of the battle of New Orleans, his feeling and his voice seemed to rise with the subject. The encomiums he passed upon the hero who had achieved the victory, though said in a few words, were such as might be expected from a statesman so great in honor, and so exalted in patriotism, as Mr. Clay. He concluded this part of his speech, by saying, that, although by the negotiations at Ghent, none of the objects for which the nation went to war, were guarantied by the treaty of peace; yet they were secured to us by a power much stronger than any treaty stipulations could give: the influence of our arms, the resources and power of the republic, as brought forth and shown in

the contest.

He now spoke of the apprehensions entertained by many, that the Union

would be dissolved; but he considered ai apprehensions of this kind, as arising more from our fears that such a misfortune should visit the contry, than from any substantial reasons to justify them. Rumors, he said, had gone abroad ever since the adoption of the present Constitution, that the republic would be dismembered. Whenever any important question arose, in which the passions and prejudices of party, rather than the reason of the people, was brought to bear on the discussion, the cry would be heard, that the Union would fall in the conflict; to-day, the disposition to separate would be charged on the West; to-morrow, against the North or the East; and then it would be returned back again to the South; but as long as I have lived, said Mr. Clay, I have seen nothing to give me any serious fears that such an evil could befall us. First, the people were divided into democrats and federalists; then we had the funding system, and the bank of the United States; then came the Missouri question, and last the tariff. On this question my partial friend has honored me with the appellation of the advocate of domestic industry. I am, indeed, from conscientious convictions, the friend of that system of public policy, which has been called the American system; and here, among those who honestly differ with me on this question, I would be indulged, by this magnanimous people, in offering a few remarks on this subject.

It has been objected to this policy by a distinguished statesman in Congress, that our country was too extended, the lands too cheap and fertile, and our population too sparse to admit of the manufacturing system; that our people were physically incapable of that confined degree of labor, necessary to excellence in manufactures; but experience has surely disproved these positions. We are by nature inferior to no people, physically or mentally, and time has proved, and will continue to prove it.

I am aware that the people of this quarter of the Union conscientiously believe, that the tariff bears heavily on them; yet I feel also well assured, from a retrospect of the past, that if the laws on this subject were even more severe in their operation than 1 believe them to be, this patriotic people would endure them patiently. Yes, if the independence of the country, the interests, and above all, the cause of the Union required heavy sacrifices, they would endure them. But while claiming no immunity from error, I feel the most sincere, the deepest conviction, that the tariff, so far from having proved injurious to the peculiar interests of this section of the country, has been eminently beneficial. I ask leave to put two questions to those interested in your great staple. I would take the common operations of sale and of purchase: has the operation of the tariff lowered. the price of what you sell? The price of every article must be regulated mainly by the demand: has, then, the consumption of cotton diminished. since the tariff of 1824, or 1828? No, it has increased, greatly increased; and why? Because the protection extended by this policy, has created a new customer in the American manufacturer, who takes two hundred thousand bales, without having lessened the demand for the European market.

British merchants have found' new markets for their cotton fabrics, and the competition, thus created, while it has reduced the price of the manufactured article, has increased the consumption of the raw material. Again, has the tariff increased the price of what you buy? Take the article of domestic cotton, for example; has not the American manufacturer, since the adoption of this system, afforded you a better article and at less price than before? Take a familiar instance, one in which, having some personal interest, I ought to be acquainted with; take the article manufactured in my own State, for the covering of your cotton bales; take any period, say six years before and six years since the tariff of 1824; has the average price of cotton bagging increased or diminished, in that period? I think I can appeal confidently to those around me, for the reply. We afford you a better article than the European, and at a greatly reduced price. But, I am permitting myself to be carried away by the subject; I will obtrude no longer on the indulgence of this generous people. I feel my inability to express my profound and heartfelt gratitude, for the too flattering reception you have given me, and for the sentiments you have been pleased to honor me with, an humble individual in private life. I ask permission to offer a sentiment:

"The health and prosperity of the people of the State of Mississippi."

i

NULLIFICATION AND OTHER TOPICS

CINCINNATI, AUGUST 3, 1830.

[THE Bank, the American System, and Internal Improvements, are topics of the following speech; but Nullification is the principal theme. This latter was about this time a novelty in the political history of the country, as having just begun to be agitated. South Carolina statesmen had all the responsibility of first proposing it, and from that day to this they have taken the lead in it. Since its first proposal, the doctrine has branched out into a claim of the right of secession. As will be seen, nullification does not necessarily imply secession, though it may be difficult to see how the former could be carried out without leading to the latter. But the first idea of nullification was doubtless limited to the action of a State in making null and void a Federal law or laws, within the circle of its own jurisdiction, without contemplating the absolute independence of a secession. Seeing, however, that nullification, in its practical operation, could hardly stop short of secession, the propounders of the doctrine, in its first and limited signification, afterward came boldly up to the claim of the right of secession; and that is the present (1856) aspect of the question. The theory of nullification, as first entertained, supposed and assumed that any State, by its legislation and courts, could nullify, within its own limits, such laws of the United States as its own authorities might adjudge to be unconstitutional, so that they could not be executed under its jurisdiction; and here, perhaps, it was thought that nullification would stop, till the federal Government should repeal the obnoxious laws. But, to be relieved from the embarrassments of such a position, and to make thorough work, the nullifiers became secessionists, holding that the federal Union is a voluntary compact, which either of the parties could dissolve at will, in the same manner as they had made it. This, as will be seen, becomes a momentous question, so far as it is seriously entertained. Though the right of seces