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THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA

PRESENTED BY

PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND

MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID

ADDRESS

DELIVERED BEFORE THE

HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN AND HAMPDEN

AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY,

AT THEIR

Annual Fair,

HOLDEN AT

NORTHAMPTON, OCTOBER 24, 1832.

BY MYRON LAWRENCE.

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.

— 9^9—

NORTHAiMPTON :
JOHN METCALF, PRINTER.

1832.

\

66^

CH^ C^

t^S

ADDRESS.

The war of the revolution left our fathers in pos-
session of little else, than unsullied national honor,
and political independence. Their energies and
resources, they had unsparingly expended in achiev-
ing their emancipation. Private fortunes, and per-
sonal services were alike, freely oflFered on the altar
of the common weal. Three millions of people,
sparsely scattered through thirteen states, sustained
with unbroken front, and unshrinking fortitude, for
seven long years, the accumulated horrors of **war,
pestilence, and famine." British power could not
subdue them ; British diplomacy could not ensnare
them. The arts of peace, during this conflict,
were necessarily neglected. The spirit of adven-
ture was shorn of its strength, and commercial
enterprise compelled to lie dormant. All national
and individual resources were engaged in one di-
rection, and made to concentrate on one grand ob-
ject, the attainment of national freedom.

At the return of peace, they found themselves,
indeed, politically free, but exhausted by their pro-
tracted warfare, embarrassed by an imbecile gov-
ernment, loaded with debt, oppressed by poverty,
and distracted by domestic feuds. Who, that con-
templated the young republic, at that period,
struggling for existence, would have predicted her

8^^^^ iw3680G3

future greatness ? Who could have persuaded him-
self, that within fifty years, the descendants of that
little band of patriots, would have multiplied to
thirteen millions, that eleven new states would
have been added to the union, and that the popula-
tion of the valley of the Mississippi, then an unex-
plored wilderness should exceed, in number, the
asserters of our independence ? Incredible as the
prediction might have appeared, it is more than
verified by facts. The noble Mississippi rolls her
fertilizing waters near two thousand miles through
a country, thickly studded with settlements, which
was then the undisputed possession of savages.
Their council fires have become extinct, and the
city, or town, or hamlet now marks the site of the
chieftain's lodge.

The confederacy of the states having been super-
seded by our present well balanced constitution,
and the government successfully organized accord-
ing to its provisions, the characteristic enterprise of
our citizens began to exhibit itself, l^he western
forests fell beneath the axe of the adventurous emi-
grant from the Atlantic states. The fertility of the
soil, and the salubrity of the climate, invited rapid
settlement. Towns and villages were soon thickly
planted along our western border, and plenty and
comfort blessed their inhabitants. The rude hut of
the Indian gave place to the comfortable dwelling,
and the rustling forest to the highly cultivated field,,
waving with its yellow harvests. The tide of emi-
gration still rolled onward, and these frontier towns
and villages soon became radient points, sending^
their inhabitants to the " far off West." The canal

and the railroad, the steamboat and the steamcar
offer their facilities for the transportation of com-
modities. Remote extremes are thus brought near.
The mountain and the valley, the river and the
lake, are alike easily passed, as if by the power of
magic. The rapid currents of the great rivers of
the West are ascended by the power of steam, with
almost the speed of the race horse. Journeys, that
required months for their accomplishment, are now
performed in as many days. New Orleans and St.
Louis, Detroit and Passamaquoddie, Boston and Pra-
ire du Chin, which were once regarded as at almost
impassable distances, are now, for the purposes of
business, neighbors. The certainty of arrival and
departure, and the ease and expedition of these
modern modes of conveyance, are of incalculable
value to the man of business, and greatly promote
the general prosperity of our country.

No flight of imagination is, perhaps, too bold, to
anticipate our increase in numbers, and wealth, and
power, and national resources, during the current
half century. The ratio of multiplication, large as
it is, will probably increase, rather than diminish.
The facilities for sustaining a dense population are
daily multiplying in the Atlantic states, and every
acre that is reclaimed at the West, and South West,
adds to the means of support. Every newly culti-
vated foot of ground, every loom, or spindle, in-
creases the national wealth. Every yard of canvass^
that floats in the breezes, and every ton of shipping,
that swims on the waters of the ocean, contribute to
swell the aggregate fund. Is it too much, then, for
a sanguine imagination, indeed, is it too much for

6

sober reason, to say, that our population will num-
ber its forty millions, that the pioneers of the " far
off West," receding from the rich prairies, and fer-
tile bottom lands of the Mississippi valley, will ex-
tend our frontier settlements to the Rocky moun-
tains, perhaps, even to the gentle waters of the
Pacific ; that the scattered tribes of the wilderness
will disappear, and the onward tide of emigration
continue to roll in successive waves, till arrested by
that insuperable barrier. What a picture is here
presented to the view of the philanthropist and
statesman. Forty millions of freemen, inhabiting a
country, extending through some twenty degrees of
latitude, and fifty of longitude, constituting one im-
mense republic. Grand, and imposing, as this pic-
ture may appear, is the reality improbable ? Our
national debt is almost discharged, the treasury is
overflowing, the national domain renders its millions
annually, the ordinary revenue more than meets
the usual expenditures of government. These re-
sources, under an enlightened, and patriotic admin-
istration will be expended in facilitating intercom-
munication, in strengthening our national defences,
and in consolidating the union. Every year adds
to our united strength, and renders our political
existence, as a republic, less problematical. Yet,
however fair its prospects of future greatness may
now appear, they may be defeated. This splendid
triumph of free institutions may never be realised.
The hydra, disunion, may acquire the ascendency,
and this fair republic fall a sacrifice to her machina-
tions. Nullification, and its kindred heresies may
set the laws at defiance, and involve the states in

exterminating wars. An ambitious president may
nullify the legislative and judicial departments of
the government, by refusing to execute the laws,
and thus pave his way to despotic authority. But
let us hope for better things. We have heretofore
had our political agitations and strifes. More than
once has the horizon been overcast with dark por-
tentous clouds. More than once has the thunder of
disunion been heard in the distance menacing the
dissolution of our civil compact. But like the
whirlwind and the tempest, the hail and the light-
ning of the physical world, they have passed off,
leaving a purer atmosphere and serener sky.

In this march to national greatness, where will
New-England, this little speck on the map of our
country, be found ? Will she be found as usual, in
the van, pioneering the way of improvements, or
will she abandon her love of enterprise, and retro-
grade to the rear? Her determination is already
announced, and she has assumed an advanced posi-
tion in the line of march, by encouraging manufac-
tures and the mechanic arts. She is destined to
sustain the same relation to manufactures, that she
has, hitherto, sustained to commerce, and while her
canvass shall continue to whiten every sea, her
ships shall be freighted with the produce of her
looms and workshops.

"The local advantages of New-England seem to
designate her as the favorite site of manufacturing
establishments. Her proximity to the Atlantic,
and her immediate connexion with the great inter-
nal channels of communication ; her immense water
^ powers, and inexhaustible supplies of timber and

8

fuel ; the luxuriance of her pastures, and the com-
parative sterility of her soil for growing grain, and
other staples ; the salubrity of her climate, and the
density, morality, industry, and ingenuity of her
population, all seem to indicate her as peculiarly
fitted to embark in this enterprise.

How would the extensive introduction of cotton
and woollen manufactories affect the interests of
agriculture ? Would it produce the result so often,
and so confidently, predicted by the enemies of the
system, a farther and a ruinous depression? or,
would it infuse new vigor into the husbandman, and
give a new impulse to agricultural pursuits ? It is
believed, that the legitimate tendency of the system
is exactly the reverse of that predicted, and that it
would materially promote the interests of the far-
mer, by furnishing him an additional market, and
enhancing the price of his commodities. The best
of all markets for the farmer's produce is a domestic
one, because it gives him a quick return, and re-
lieves him from the charges of storage and trans-
portation. It is too obvious for comment, that
many, who are now engaged in the pursuits of agri-
culture, would then, turn their attention to manu-
factures, and thus add to the number of consumers,
and increase the demand for agricultural products.
The more consumers, compared with the producers,
the readier the market, and the greater the price.
This idea of an extensive domestic market for the
surplus produce of the soil^ is of the first conse-
quence. " It is of all things," says Gen. Hamilton,
" that, which most effectually conduces to a flourish-
ing state of agriculture. The establishment of man-

ufactures is calculated, not only to increase the gen-
eral stock of useful and productive labor, but to
improve the state of agriculture in particular, cer-
tainly to advance the interests of those, who are
engaged in it." " If a manufacture be established
in any rich and fertile country, by convening a
number of people in one place, who must all be fed
by the farmer, without interfering with any of his
necessary operations, they establish a ready market
for the produce of his farm, and thus throw money
into his hands, and give spirit and energy to his
culture." Farmers in the immediate neighborhood
of flourishing manufactories would derive an addi-
tional advantage over their fellows in the interior,
by the extensive culture of culinary vegetables, a
species of produce that renders most liberal profits.
Those more remote would increase the profits of
their farms by devoting them to the growing of
wool, which would soon become a staple product,
and if the business of manufeicturing should prove
only moderately successful, so that the mills should
be kept in operation, a fair and uniform price for
the article would soon be established. The fluctu-
ations, hitherto, in the value of this product, have
materially discouraged its growth. The confidence
of the farmer is impaired, and his sheep are sent to
the slaughter. But let woollen manufactures be
sufficiently protected by government, so, at least, as
to secure to them our own markets, and these ruin-
ous speculations will cease. The farmer may then
calculate, in advance, the value of his wool, with as
much certainty as he now can, that of his rye and

corn. His flocks would revive, and his pastures
2

10

become again tenanted by that least expensive, and
most profitable species of stock.

" Manufacturing establishments afford occasional
and extra employment to industrious individuals
and families, who are willing to devote the leisure
resulting from the intermissions of their ordinary
pursuits, to collateral labors, as a resource for mul-
tiplying their acquisitions or enjoyments. The
husbandman himself experiences a new source of
profit and support from the increased industry of
his wife and daughters, invited and stimulated by
the demands of the neighboring manufactories."

The genial influence of their successful introduc-
tion would be felt by all landholders and cultivators
in the material diminution of taxes, and the rapid
rise in value of real estate. The worth of lands is
proportioned to their capacity of production, and
their proximity to market. If, by encouraging the
growth and multiplication of these establishments,
we create a market at home, in our own neighbor-
hood, perhaps, before our own doors, who does not
see, that we materially increase the value of our
lands, and render their cultivation more profitable ?
The establishment of a home market calls into ac-
tion all the energies of the husbandman, and adds
new zest to agricultural pursuits.

In a moral, and political view, the general intro-
duction of manufacturing establishments, assumes
yet higher importance. The peculiar moral excel-
lency of large manufactories, as conducted in New-
England, is their furnishing active employment to
a class of persons, who without them, have not the
means of regular occupation. Females and chil-

11

dren, otherwise too often idle, are here provided
with pleasant and profitable engagement. While
by their industry, they are enabled to contribute
essentially towards their support, and education,
they are preserved entirely from the temptations of
idleness, and the allurements of vice. On this sub-
ject, we are happily not without experience. Visit
the flourishing manufacturing villages of Lowell,
Waltham, Ware, and Chickopee, and inquire into
their internal arrangement and police, and show
me, if you can, more orderly, and prosperous, and
happy communities. Children under a certain age
are required to be kept at school, while those above '?
that age, are employed, regular hours, in the per- V
formance of allotted easy tasks, and both, contented *
and happy, are acquiring temperate, industrious,
and useful habits. Habit, in the conduct of life, is
every thing. Children, early and systematically .
trained to the regular habits of application, prac-
tised in well conducted factories, will be very un-
likely to depart from them in after-life, and assume
the disorderly and vagabond habits of the votaries
of idleness and sloth. \

Politically considered, their extensive introduc-
tion is of the first consequence. They would rap-
idly increase our population, both by preventing
emigration to the new states, and by inducing immi-
gration to these establishments. Our own sons and '
daughters would give over their dreams of the val-
ley of the Mississippi, and the verdant banks of
the Ouisconsin and St. Joseph's, when they found
offered them, at home, the means of easy, and repu-
table support. Yankee skill, and ingenuity, would

1^

find profitable employment in our own workshops,
and manufactories, rather than in the western wilds.
New-England will soon be shorn of her remaining
political importance, unless her population can be
more rapidly increased, so as to keep pace with the
clustering thousands of the western states. Her
voice may, indeed, be still heard and respected, the
eloquence of her statesmen will be admired, and
their arguments prove unanswerable, yet, notwith-
standing, her interests will be overlooked, and her
just demands, neglected. It is a mortifying truth,
but, therefore, none the less worthy to be told, that
the best, and often, the only successful argument in
our national councils, is numbers, mere physical
force. Let us, then, by giving all proper encourage-
ment to the establishment of manufactories among
us, endeavor to acquire possession of this best, this
conclusive argument.

Past experience has demonstrated the extreme
folly and madness of relying on foreign countries,
exclusively, for a supply of manufactures. Our late
war with Great Britain found us unprovided with
the necessary materials for equipping and clothing
our defenders. We were compelled to trust to the
spindles and looms of our enemies, for the very
blankets of our soldiers. The urgent necessity of
the case supplied itself by corresponding efforts.
Numerous small manufactories were put in opera-
tion, in various parts of our country, and during the
war, contributed materially to its successful progress,
and proved profitable investments of capital. On
the re-opening of our ports to foreign importations,
these young establishments could not, unaided by

13

government, sustain themselves against the skill,
and enterprise, and wealth of British manufacturers.
The comparative cheapness of production in Eu-
rope at that time, added to the settled determina-
tion of British merchants to monopolize our markets
at any sacrifice, involved our unprotected establish-
ments in utter ruin. The cotton mills, however,
having received early aid, and excelling in their
machinery, have been able not only to sustain them-
selves, but to drive the foreign manufacturer from
our markets, and make large dividends on the cap-
ital invested. The manufacture of woollens proved
more disastrous, and many of our most enterprising
countrymen, who entered this business with bright
hopes, lost both labor and capital. So far as agri-
culture is concerned, the establishment of woollen
manufactures is far more important, than that of
cotton. The cotton manufacture promotes agricul-
ture chiefly as it furnishes an increased demand for
provisions, while the woollen contributes equally to
the establishment of a domestic market, and stimu-
lates the industry of the farmer, by paying him
liberally for his wool. Was the demand for wool
commensurate with the capacity of our lands for
producing it, the rapid increase in wealth of the
New-England farmer, would be matter of astonish-
ment even to himself.

It early became a grave question among our leg-
islators, whether manufactures should be abandoned
to their fate, or be so far protected by the imposi-
tion of discriminating duties, as to enable them to
compete successfully with foreign fabrics. Much
angry and intemperate discussion was elicited by

14

the question. Local interests, and sectional preju-
dices were summoned to the combat. The cries of
wanton oppression on the one hand, and of cruel
and ruthless abandonment on the other, were loudly
uttered. The North and the South were pitched
against each other in hostile array, and sustained
their respective positions with much partizan zeal.
Parties in a free government are always to be ex-
pected, but that legislative measures, changing ma-
terially the national policy, should be unanimously
approved by the inhabitants North of a certain geo-
graphical line, and as unanimously condemned by the
inhabitants South of that line, is, indeed, " strange,
passing strange." What is there in the waters of
the Potomac, or in the breezes of the Alleghanies,
that should produce this withering effect on our
national policy? The halls of congress were be-
seiged, session after session, by various opposing
interests, and the battle between the champions of
free trade, and the American system was fraught
with various success, till at the last session, a modi-
fied tariff of duties was obtained, distinctly recog-
nizing the principle of protection to domestic
industry.
^ It being now the avowed policy of the govern-
ment to encourage the growth and production of
certain manufactures, by the imposition on similar
foreign articles, of other and greater duties, than
are necessary for the purposes of revenue, we may
expect to see large investments of capital in manu-
facturing stock, and an active competition among
manufacturers. It has been well said, that all rea-
soning is in favor of free trade and unrestricted

15

importation, and all facts in favor of a protecting
tariff. It would seem that the imposition of a high
duty for the purpose of excluding a foreign fabric,
and protecting a domestic one, would necessarily
enhance the price of the protected article, to the
consumer. But how is the fact ? Cotton goods, that
sold for thirty cents per yard before a protecting duty
was laid on them, are now brought into the market
at twelve and an half cents, affording a fair profit to
the manufacturer. Indeed, our cotton manufactures
can now sustain themselves against the world, and
compete successfully in any market. And what is
there, in the nature of the case, to prevent woollen
fabrics attaining the same success at home, and the
same high character abroad ? Let the experiment
be judiciously made, and who can doubt its result ?
American woollens have already attained to high
excellence, notwithstanding the grievous embarrass-
ments with which they have had to contend. Give
them the benefit of a liberal tariff, and a settled
policy, and all the arts, and wealth, of foreigners,
cannot prevent their rapid increase in number and
in excellence. Let the duties, however inadequate,
remain undisturbed, as now settled, and confidence^
in the policy of the government be restored, and
the manufacture of woollens can hardly fail to be-
come a gainful business. It is the uncertain policy
of the government, rather than the insufficiency of
protecting duties, that unnerves the arm of the
manufacturer, and paralyzes his efforts. Let him be
assured of the steady patronage of government, and
the difficulties that now embarrass him will soon be

16

removed, his slumbering energies will be iaroused,
and success will crown his exertions.

The establishment of this protecting policy, has
been accompanied by the most untiring and vigilant
opposition, and has produced an exasperation and
acerbity of feeling, unexampled in the history of
our country. Time and reflection, it is believed,
will allay the fever of excitement, and recal our
impassioned brethren to a holier sense of the duties
of patriotism, and their allegiance. Unless the
present instance shall contradict all past experience,
the time is at hand, when the rancorous ebullitions
of the spirit of nullification shall cease, and the good
old fashioned doctrine of acquiescence in the will of
a majority, fairly expressed, shall be more firmly
established. And unless we utterly mistake the
signs of the times, the day is not far distant, when
we shall all cordially approve the principles of the
American System, and the South and North, the
East and West heartily unite in the sentiment, that
the American System is our whole country^ s sheet an-
chor, and J^eW' England's only hope of salvation.

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