er prices to the home, than he would to the foreign manufacturer, by reason of the different cost of production, the domestic manufacturer derives no more, after a season, than the ordinary profits on capital, in consequence of the competition of his neighbors and "the system becomes wholly inefficacious, and wholly useless with reference to its original object." The corollary drawn from which, by this enlightened statesman; is:
"That all the duties should be reduced, so as no longer to leave any thing of the character of seeking to give protection, but so as to be only for the purpose of obtaining revenue."
He then makes the distinct proposition, that France and England shall admit all the products of each other at a duty of ten per cent. ad valorem, that being "the highest rate which can with propriety be imposed." That such a measure is now actually pending in negotiation between these two great nations, with a likelihood of success, will scarcely perhaps be believed in this country, but every patriot, understanding the subject, must cordially wish that our government would anticipate its competitors, and secure the custom of the world in advance, by throwing our ports open to a trade perfectly free. Were there but two nations engaged in commerce, should one of them adopt restrictions upon its imports, the other might, perhaps with some semblance of wisdom, resort to retaliatory duties. But, where all countries nearly are contending for the common custom, that which purposes to break down competition, and engross the most business, must welcome all comers to its ports without let, tax, or restriction. The best retaliation upon restriction is free trade—the worst enemy of monopoly is competition. By the philosophic inquirer, the origin of this vicious and preposterous system of legislation, may be traced to the wrong theory of government, so long prevalent in the old world, and still lingering in the new, from a habitude of thought little short of superstition. Men have been in the custom of regarding government as a mysterious, and self-existent abstraction, endowed with creative and magical powers, and administered by motives and rules which are sublimated far above common sense, and utterly inapplicable to the individual citizen. The reverse exactly is the case, and political is barely domestic economy applied to the business of those shopkeepers called nations. Were one merchant in a city to exact of all the customers who entered his store, one per cent. on their dealings, and another, because he was affected by it,
