monstrate their wisdom and policy before they are adopted; and not, by arithmetical calculations, bottomed on visionary notions, to call upon the nation to reject the lights already furnished by its own experience.

But it may, perhaps, be inquired, what are the benefits derived to commerce from a credit upon duties? The memorialists are perfectly willing to state some of the leading benefits, public as well as private; for in this, as in almost all the like cases, public and private interests go hand in hand.

It will not be denied that the United States, even at the present time, does not, when compared with the great nations in Europe, abound in moneyed capital. This is in almost every nation a subject of slow accumulation, even under circumstances peculiarly favorable to its growth; but in a young nation the obstacles are generally great, from the character and various pursuits of the inhabitants, the extent of their wants, and the rivalry and superior advantages for its employment presented by flourishing nations. At the time when the United States adopted its system of credits and drawbacks on duties, its moneyed capital was very small; and the great policy of the Government was to give every facility for its full employment. It is obvious that the more capital is employed in commerce, the more extensive will be its reach, and the more revenue will be acquired by the Government. Whatever of capital, naturally flowing in this channel, is withdrawn from it and remains unemployed, is so much lost to the commerce of the country. The duties upon the importation of goods are, on an average, at least twenty-five per cent. of the value of those goods, or of the capital employed. It follows that, if this is immediately withdrawn from the funds of the merchant, it is so much loss of his commercial capital. A little detail will render this apparent. Whenever a voyage is undertaken, the merchant invests as much capital as he thinks necessary for the purchase of the goods to be imported, and also as much more as will be necessary to meet all the disbursements and expenses of the voyage. All this is paid in advance. When the goods are imported, they are not immediately sold. The market may be depressed, or the goods be of slow consumption, or not be adapted to the wants of this country, or be ultimately destined for a foreign market. In these cases, (and these are common cases,) it is obvious that no immediate sale can be made without great sacrificessacrifices which are wholly inconsistent with any profitable commerce. Even when sales are effected, they are rarely made for cash. A credit is almost universally allowed to the purchaser, varying according to the nature of the commodity and the demand in the market, from four to eight, and even twelve months. Under such circumstances, if a cash payment is required for the duties, it is obvious that the merchant must either, in anticipation of this demand, gradually withdraw from his other business a portion of his capital equal to the duties; or he must divert an equal portion ready to be employed in another voyage; or he

must procure money upon credit from other sources, loaded with the payment of interest; or he must consent to make enormous sacrifices, by an immediate forced sale. If he be a prudent, cautious merchant, this very circumstance will operate to prevent him from employing his whole capital in commerce, lest he should be compelled to make ruinous sacrifices, or, by a mere temporary depression of the market, be exposed to the most painful embarrassments. It is with the express view of preventing this palsy upon commercial operations, that a credit upon duties has been allowed by the wise and great men who have hitherto governed our country; and this credit is carefully adjusted to the different portions of our trade, so as to form a credit equal, in a general view, to the time consumed and credit allowed before the merchant receives his money upon the sales of the goods upon which the specific duties have accrued. In confirmation of this general statement, the memorialists would respectfully call the attention of Congress to the East India trade-a trade in which Salem has been long, and deeply, and successfully engaged; a trade, too, which, however, decried by the misguided zeal of some, and the interested suggestions of others, has largely contributed to the revenue of the United States, and yields not in importance to any other branch of commerce. Voyages to the East Indies are undertaken at very heavy expense, and with proportionably large capitals. The goods that are brought home consist of articles either of such high prices, such slow consumption, or of such bulk and quantity, as require a considerable length of time before they can be sold at a reasonable profit, and the money actually realized upon the sale. The home market, too, for many of these goods, is so limited, that, ultimately, a re-exportation to Europe becomes indispensable; and, after a second voyage, thus undertaken, the proceeds find their way, by a circuitous remittance, to England; and then again, before the merchant can realize his funds, he must have notice of the remittance, and be able to sell his exchange at a reasonable rate in the market. It is not uncommon for cargoes designed for home consumption to remain on hand for six months, and sometimes a twelvemonth; and when sales are effected, the usual credit is from four to eight and twelve months. So that, even with the credit for duties allowed in this trade, it usually happens that the first and second instalments become due before the proceeds of the sales have been realized, and, not unfrequently, before the cargoes have been finally disposed of. Yet the duties on these voyages are exceedingly heavy, amounting, in some cases, to $100,000; a sum which even our wealthiest merchants could not readily advance, and which would materially check even their commercial expeditions. It is not too much to declare that, in all probability, an abolition of the credit of duties would immediately occasion a diminution of the East India trade one-quarter part, and, of course, occasion a proportionate diminution of our revenue, and of employment to those whose bread is as hardly earned, and whose lives are as dear, and whose

welfare is as important to the country, as those of the manufacturers, who seek to found their own fortunes upon the ruins of this commerce. Some of the ill effects which would result from the abolition of this credit will be obvious to the most careless observer. There is no pretence to say that there is a superabundance of moneyed capital in our country. The universal opinion proclaims, in a manner too audible and too distinct to be misunderstood, that much of the public distress arises from a deficiency of capital. The first effect, therefore, of the abolition of this credit, would be a diminution of active capital engaged in trade, and yielding a profit. It would be hoarded up to meet the anticipated demands of the Government for accruing duties. The revenue would, as has been already intimated, immediately suffer. But other evils, of a still graver cast, would ensue. Men of small capitals could no longer engage in trade, and least of all in a trade where the voyages were long and the returns slow. Capitalists, and they alone, could successfully carry on the great branches of commerce; and in their hands It would become a monopoly, which they might wield and manage at their own pleasure. The young and enterprising merchants would be crushed in their attempts at competition, and would be compelled to navigate only in those narrow channels where trade almost stagnates, or yields a scanty subsistence. Another necessary result would be the enhancement of the prices of all foreign articles of domestic consumption. The merchant would charge an interest and profit upon every advance made to the Government in the shape of duties; and thus the consumer, upon whom all such charges ultimately fall, would pay these additional charges, together with the enhanced price, which a smaller importation, with an equal demand, would necessarily produce. These are evils of no ordinary magnitude; and it is confidently believed that no wise Legislature would introduce them upon mere speculations, thus taxing the whole for the conjectural benefit of the few.

In respect to drawbacks, some additional considerations seem necessary to be stated, inasmuch as the subject has been greatly misunderstood by some of those who advocate their abolition. The drawback of duties is allowed upon importations of goods into the country, which are re-exported within a year from the time of their entry. The object of the system is to increase the navigation and commerce of the country, by securing to our citizens a carrying trade, between distant and foreign nations, in commodities which are either unsuitable to our market, or of which a great surplus is imported. In every such case, the Government derives a direct revenue of two and one-half per cent. on the duties of the re-exported goods; this amount being always retained. This is a positive benefit to the Government. It is obvious that, if no drawback were allowed upon such reexportation, no surplus beyond the consumption would ever be imported; for, upon such re-exportation, the goods would be loaded with the whole duty, and the merchant could not afford to sell them so cheap in the foreign market, by the full

amount of that duty, which would much exceed the whole profit reasonably to be expected upon the goods. Under such circumstances, the shipping and capital of foreign merchants would be exclusively engaged in the carrying trade, and all the benefits of an increased employment for our seamen, our shipwrights, and our ships, including freight and profits, would be entirely lost. This is stated upon the supposition that such a trade could not be carried on, except circuitously, and after an actual importation into the United States; and this is regularly true in respect to the whole trade with the British East Indies, with which we are not permitted to carry on any trade direct to Europe, but are compelled, by treaty, first to land the goods in the United States.

In respect to the other portions of the carrying trade, the abolition of drawbacks would immediately lead to a direct trade between foreign ports, whenever foreign nations would permit our merchants to engage in it. This would compel them to equip, repair, and man their ships in Europe, and thus to give all their disbursements in this great trade to foreigners. No goods would be imported into the United States, either from Europe or India, which were not indispensable for our consumption; and this diminished supply of the home market would increase speculation, and tend to produce, in a very great degree, alternating fluctuations from a depressed to a high market. Commercial adventures would be thereby rendered more hazardous and precarious, since the foreign market would be ordinarily cut off after an importation into the United States; and if, at any moment, the foreign market should happen to be so high as to justify an exportation, an artificial scarcity, far beyond what now can ever arise, would immediately ensue in the United States. The abolition of drawbacks would, in this view, operate as a direct tax upon the consumers in this country. It would diminish the productive revenue, and give a foreign character to our seamen and commerce, instead of concentrating both as their home in the bosom of the country. Nor should it be forgotten how highly important the carrying trade has hitherto been, and how much it has increased our moneyed capital. During the years 1802, 1803, and 1804, the drawbacks allowed, on an average of these years, considerably exceeded a quarter part of the duties secured to the Government; in the succeeding years, 1805, 1806, and 1807, they constituted more than a third of the whole duties. So that, on an average of these six years, the last three of which were the most prosperous years of our commerce, the carrying trade constituted nearly one-third of our whole foreign commerce. And although this carrying trade be now, from the general state of the world, somewhat diminished, yet it still remains one of the most lucrative branches of our commerce, and yields a steady revenue to the Government. Under this aspect of the subject, the memorialists would respectfully inquire whether the abolition of drawbacks would not be disastrous to the most important interests of our country, and dry up some of the best sources of our national glory as well as national wealth? Let it

be considered, also, that the policy of all commercial nations has uniformly dictated the same course, and that drawbacks, or their equivalent, are uniformly held out as an encouragement to importations, and thus the supply is always kept considerably above the domestic consumption, and enterprise and industry are protected and rewarded. Will America be the first to abandon a policy by which she has so greatly profited? At the very moment when her commerce is gasping for life, from the accumulated competitions of foreign nations, zealous for their own interests, will she aid the blows aimed at its existence, and consign it to a premature destruction?

The next subject to which the memorialists would respectfully ask the attention of Congress, is a measure very pertinaciously and zealously advocated by manufacturers and their friends-they mean the entire prohibition, either directly, or by duties equivalent to a prohibition, of the importation of cotton and woollen goods. That the tariff of duties now existing is singularly favorable to manufactures, the memorialists had supposed would have been freely admitted. Whatever articles are useful for domestic manufactures pay but a trivial duty; whatever articles can be wrought here are loaded with a heavy duty, varying from fifteen to thirty per cent. ad valorem. The duty upon East India cottons is indeed enormous, and practically amounts to a total prohibition. The coarser fabrics of cotton in the British East Indies cost about six cents a square yard, and were formerly imported in large quantities into the United States, and supplied the poorer classes of citizens with necessary though humble clothing. The tariff directs all such cottons to be estimated at the cost of twenty-five cents per square yard, and levies upon them, therefore, a duty of one hundred per cent., or a sum equal to their original cost. During the years 1802, 1803, and 1804, the average imports from the British East Indies were about three millions and a half of dollars; of which a little short of three millions were goods paying ad valorem duties, being principally white cotton goods. In 1807, the goods paying ad valorem duties, imported from the same places, had increased to upwards of four millions of dollars. In the same year fifteen ships were employed in this trade from the town of Salem alone. In the past year two only have been so employed, and, for the four years last past, no cotton piece goods have been imported into this town for home consumption; the duty alone amounting to a prohibition. The sacrifice of this branch of our trade alone has very seriously affected the whole mercantile community engaged in East India commerce, and has nowhere been more sensibly or injuriously felt than in Salem. It has operated, too, as an excessive tax upon the poorer classes of the community, who have been compelled to buy domestic fabrics to supply their wants, at higher prices, which their narrow means could ill afford. It has also annually struck off from the revenue of the Government the whole duty upon seven-eighths of the importations of East India cottons; that proportion having been absorbed by the domestic consumption. The loss to

our ship owners, and seamen, and commercial artisans, has been proportionably great. And the memorialists cannot refrain from expressing their decided convictions, that this sacrifice was not called for by the public interests, but was a liberal indulgence granted for the exclusive benefit of the manufacturers, and pressed upon the nation by their importunate solicitations. However painful this measure was, it was borne in silence, under the hope that experience would one day establish the propriety of its repeal, and that the zeal of the manufacturers would be satisfied with the destruction of one branch of commerce, and the heavy duties imposed upon all others.

These expectations, however, have not been realized; and the memorialists now learn, with regret, that one sacrifice is to be demanded after another, and one prohibition heaped upon another, by the friends of manufactures, until all the sources of foreign commerce are dried up, and domestic manufactures sustained, by enormous bounties, absorb the whole moneyed capital of the nation. The memorialists would most respectfully, but most solemnly, protest against the policy and the justice of such measures.

And what are the claims, the memorialists beg leave respectfully to ask, of any class of our citizens, to throw such enormous burdens upon the other classes of the community? Is the agricultural interest nothing? Is the commercial interest nothing? Are the interest of the public and its revenues nothing? The cotton and woollen trade is already loaded with twenty and twenty-five per cent. duties; and if there be added the freight and charges upon importation, the domestic manufactures have now an encouragement of the profit of from thirty to thirty-five per cent. more than the European manufacturers possess, if the same art can be manufactured as cheap at home as abr In respect to the East India cotton trade, the encouragement is still more striking; the duties upon the coarsest fabrics in that trade amounting, as has been already seen, to one hundred per cent. upon the original cost. And if cotton and woollen goods cannot be manufactured here and sold as cheap, with all these differences of duty in their favor, does it not establish the conclusion that such manufactures are not the natural growth of our present situation, and are not adapted to the physical, and moral, and happy condition of the people? Why should the farmer, and the planter, and the merchant, and the mechanics, and the laboring classes of the community, be taxed for the necessaries of life a sum equal to more than one-quarter part of their whole expenditures on these objects, that the manufacturers may put this sum into their own pockets?

The memorialists are no enemies to manufactures; but they most sincerely express it as their deliberate judgment that no manufactures ought to be patronized in the country which will not grow up and support themselves in every competition in the market, under the ordinary protecting duty; that the only manufactures which can ultimately flourish here are those which are of slow growth and moderate profit, such as can be carried