consideration; but his objections were now removed; or he was satisfied of its utility to the government, and to the commercial part of the nation; and he might have considered the establishment of such an institution in 1791, a sufficient precedent. The act of incorporation provided, that the federal government should be a proprietor in the Bank, to the amount of seven millions of dollars; that a bonus of one and a half millions be allowed the United States for the charter, to be paid in two, three, and four years; and that no other Banking company should be authorized by Congress. It was also provided by the act of incorporation, that the board of directors should consist of twenty-five members; five of whom were to be appointed by the President and Senate; that the books and records of the Directors should be subject to examination by a committee of Congress, or of the President; and, if found to have violated the charter, to order scire facias to require the Directors to show cause why it should not be declared forfeited. The Bank proved to be a great accommodation to the government, deeply in debt as it then was; as well as a facility to the trading part of the community, in their monetary transactions.

Several laws were passed by Congress at the fourteenth session, in favor of the settlers on lands of the United States, of which there had been no specific sales. There were then great numbers who had sat down on the public lands, without purchase or legal authority. The law was intended to quiet the actual settlers on such vacant lands, on payment of a moderate sum, and causing a registry thereof in the proper offices provided for that purpose.

Owing to the interference by the arbitrary decrees and orders of the two great belligerent nations of Europe, with the commerce of the United States, to a long embargo, and to non-importation and non-intercourse laws of the federal government, and to the war from 1812 to 1815, declared by Congress, the growing prosperity of the country was greatly impeded. The exports were far less, and the trade consequently less; and much property taken and confiscated by the belligerent powers whose vessels covered the ocean. In the years 1808-1812, the exports, domestic and foreign, were two hundred and forty-one millions of dollars. In 1813-1814, in time of the war, they amounted to little more than thirty-four millions. Of the first amount of exports, eighty-two millions and a half were articles of foreign growth or produce, and the rest domestic; of the latter, for 1813 and 1814, the foreign articles exported amounted to

three millions; and the domestic, to thirty-one millions eight hundred thousand. The greater part of the exports of domestic growth consisted of grain and rice, and was shipped to Spain and Portugal. Nearly twenty millions value in flour, wheat, and rice, were carried to those countries from the United States in 1813, though war then existed between America and Great Britain.

The message of the President to Congress, at the opening of the session in December, 1815, gave a full expose of the. state of the nation, as to its relations with foreign governments, to the public debt and finances, to domestic manufactures, to the navy and other means of defence, and to a national currency. It was generally approved as an able state paper, and politically correct in its views, with the exception taken to it by those who considered the war unjustifiable, in that it spoke of that measure "as necessary to the honor and interest of the United States, and to the asserting of our national rights and independence."

.*

The President referred to the termination of the war, which the Dey of Algiers had carried on against the United States, in which the interests of navigation had greatly suffered to the Convention on the subject of commerce, then recently concluded with Great Britain-to the state of the Indian tribes, and the importance of maintaining peace with them, and of rendering them strict justice in all our transactions. He also recommended due encouragement for domestic manufactures; and the regulation of the currency of the United States by legal and specific acts of Congress. It was suggested that a national bank might be useful for this purpose; or that State banks might be used for the same object; and that for an immediate support of the public credit, the issue of treasury notes might be necessary. The President also expressed himself in favor of a military academy; and of a national seminary of learning to be located in the District of Columbia. On the subject of domestic manufactures, he observed, that in adjusting the duties on imports to the object of revenue, the influence of the tariff on manufactures would present itself for consideration. "However wise the theory may be, which leaves to the sagacity and interest of individuals the application of their industry and resources, there are in this, as in other cases, exceptions to the general rule. Besides, the condition, which the theory implies, of a reciprocal adoption by other nations, experience teaches, that so many circum

* During the session a national bank was established, as mentioned before.

stances may occur in introducing and maturing manufacturing establishments, especially of the more complicated kinds, that a country may remain long without them, although sufficiently advanced, and in other respects even peculiarly fitted for carrying them on with success. Under circumstances, giving a powerful impulse to manufacturing industry, it has made among us a progress, and exhibited an efficiency, which justify the belief, that with a protection not more than is due to the enterprising citizens whose interests are now at stake, it will become, at an early day, not only safe against occasional competition from abroad, but a source of domestic wealth, and even of external commerce. In selecting the branches more especially entitled to the public patronage, a preference is obviously claimed by such as will relieve the United States from a dependence on foreign supplies, ever subject to casual failures, for articles necessary for public defence, or connected with the primary wants of individuals.”

The suggestion of fostering domestic manufactures by the federal government, for the prosperity of the country, was evidently dictated by patriotic views, as well as a correct estimate of national resources, and the means of future national wealth. A similar opinion was given, at an early period of the federal government, by the Secretary of the Treasury, (Hamilton,) in a very elaborate and able report, made according to the directions of Congress. He proposed, that, in fixing the duties on goods and articles imported into the United States, for the purpose of revenue, a regard should be had, as far as judicious and proper, in the state of the country, to the extension of home manufactures of various kinds, as being favorable to internal improvements, to real independence, and to general prosperity. In the time of the war of 1812-1815, experiments were made, in most cases from necessity, for the manufacture of woollen and cotton cloths; and that of hats, shoes, and boots, was much extended, in various parts of the country. The former being new, and not well understood, was pursued with little profit; and good policy dictated that the patronage of the general government should be given to all proper attempts in this branch of industry. In revising the tariff of imposts, in 1816, reference was had to this great national concern, and twenty-five per cent. ad valorem was then fixed as a duty on cotton and woollen goods imported from foreign nations; which was higher than the duty on most other imported articles. And yet the policy of protecting these goods, so as to pre

vent an increase of foreign manufacture, seems not intended by government to be permanent; for after three years the duty was to be lessened. The manufacture of cotton and woollen cloths was pursued chiefly in the northeastern States, and a reluctance was manifested, by members of Congress from the south, for imposing the protecting duties, as the benefit would be less to them than to the people in the northern and eastern parts of the Union. But the benefit of the extensive cotton manufactures in the United States has been very great, by lessening the price of cotton cloths, and by affording a greater market for the growers of cotton in the southern section of the Union. The great demand and consumption of the article in the manufacturing districts of the United States, serve also to keep up its price in Europe.

In the opinion of some eminent politicians, the message of the President to the national legislature, already referred to, expressed views more favorable to the prosperity of the country, than his policy had before been; and several of his political friends declared themselves in favor of measures, similar to those adopted in the early period of the federal government. A member from South Carolina, and an ardent supporter of the administration, (Mr. Calhoun,) on the subject of reducing the national taxes, said, "this was a question of momentous consideration. On the decision of this question depends the question, whether a liberal and enlightened policy should characterize the measures of the government. We ought, therefore, to proceed with caution. If gentlemen were of opinion that our navy ought not to be gradually improved; that preparation. ought not to be made during peace, for preventing or meeting war; that internal improvements should not be prosecuted; if such were their sentiments, they were right in a desire to abolish taxes: but if they thought otherwise, it was preposterous to say that we should not lay taxes on the people. We ought not to give in to the contracted. idea, that taxes were so much money taken from the people: properly applied, the money proceeding from taxes, was money put out to the best possible interest for the people. He wished to see the nation free from external danger and internal difficulty. With such views, he could not see the expediency of abolishing the system of finance, established with so much care and difficulty. The broad question now before the House was, whether the government should act on an enlarged policy; whether it would avail itself of the experience of the last war; whether it would derive wisdom

from the mass of knowledge already acquired from past events, or whether we should go on in the old imbecile mode; contributing, by our measures, nothing to the honor, or reputation, or prosperity of the country. Such would not be his course. He thought it due to the national councils to the security of the country-that we should be well prepared against assaults from abroad. If danger comes, we shall then be ready to meet it. If it never comes, we shall derive consolation from a knowledge of our security. He wished gentlemen might have an opportunity to express their opinions on this subject, and to decide whether we were to travel downward, or to raise the nation to that elevation to which we ought to aspire."

These views were not directly impugned, but some members did not give to them their sanction, because they were desirous of relieving their constituents from the burden of taxes, of which they had several years loudly complained. And a few were not liberal enough to appropriate the public money, except in cases of absolute necessity. Afterwards, and at different periods, it became a question of great interest, how far appropriations could justly be made by the federal government for internal improvements, as well as how far the doctrine of fostering domestic manufactures, which almost necessarily operated unequally in different sections of the Union, could be extended, under the authority of the Constitution.

The conviction appeared general of the benefits to be derived to the nation from an increase of the manufacture of cotton and woollen goods, but there was a great diversity of opinion, at that time and at subsequent periods, in adjusting the details of a law for the purpose of giving the direct encouragement of government to them. A high duty on imported goods would necessarily increase their price to the purchasers in the United States; who, it was said, would be thus taxed for the benefit of the manufacturers. And the latter insisted on a high tariff for imported goods as requisite, to enable them to compete with foreign manufacturers; especially while the business in the United States was in its infancy, and needed the aid of government, till it had greater maturity and more ability.

In preparing an Act to give effect to the Convention for regulating commerce with England, then recently formed and ratified, the Representatives and the Senate differed materially in their views. It was long a subject of interesting debate. The House of Representatives was compelled at last to yield to the views and opinions of the Senate on the