with those who act on his principles, are the only true conservatives of order, and of all else that is in reality worthy of conservation. So much of the time of my hearers has been already occupied in treating of the proper subject of my lecture, to wit, "the distinctive provinces of the political philosopher and the statesman," that I shall say a very few words only concerning those auxiliaries, not yet mentioned, on which the former relies for facilitating the practical application of his principles. Among them education holds a high rank, and indeed, in its most comprehensive sense, includes them all. According as it is diffused among the people at large, will their character be elevated intellectually and morally, and, as the political economist has conclusively shown, will they possess a larger command over the necessaries and luxuries of life. Such a people, whatever land they may inhabit, cannot be content with the limited range of observation and reflection presented to them by the monotonous and petty events of their every day life and vicinity. Their minds will be expanded to the consideration of public affairs, and they will become critics of the conduct of their rulers. A public opinion will thus be formed, which cannot fail to make its influence felt, with an effect, too, to accelerate the progress of improvement, just in proportion as the education generally diffused is of a less or more advanced description. So important, in my view, are the consequences, politically as well as morally considered, of the universal diffusion of the benefits of even the elementary education which is communicated in the humblest of our common schools, that I cannot help looking upon the instructors in them as really occupying, in despite of the vulgar prejudices by which they are too often degraded in the public and their own estimation, an exalted position among those whose ultimate aim, in their vocation in life, is the happiness or welfare of their fellow-men. Methinks I now see before me the well known form of one who, possessing genius, acquirements, and aspirations of no mean order, pursued the study of one of the learned professions, until he discovered that he possessed also peculiarities of character and manner, of a nature to neutralize the advantages which have been enumerated, and to render hopeless all prospect of his professional success. Enfeebled in health, and pressed by the hand of poverty, he has, for many years, been engaged, as his only resource, in teaching a common school in a remote and sequestered part of the country, with less often than a day-laborer's wages for a reward. To him, as well as to others of our instructors of youth, whose history, if traced, would bear some analogy to his own, when harassed by the numerous difficulties which they must necessarily encounter from their pupils, from parents, or from a population around them, little enlightened on the subject of education, yet ever ready to decide authoritatively and severely on their conduct, as well in their private hours as in the performance of their appointed duties, and when cast down in spirit with the consciousness of their humble and scarcely improveable condition in society, -I would say, be not discouraged, ye children of misfortune, but take consolation to yourselves that while faithfully performing the part which has been assigned you in the order of Providence, you are contributing in a greater degree to the advancement of mankind, in the path of moral and political improvement, than many an individual, on whom admiring crowds have gazed and lavished their plaudits as they passed, but whose civil or military exploits posterity will contemplate, in the records of history, as having constituted so many obstacles to that improvement, over which other and more powerful causes of action have triumphed. Of the effects of instruction in our seminaries of a higher order I shall here say nothing in particular, except to express a regret that so little provision has been made, in most of them, for the political education of their pupils, who, in so many instances, are destined to become the future statesmen of the country, and to suggest a mode of supplying this deficiency, at least in our universities and colleges, without doing violence to the prejudices to which it may be attributed. While in some of these institutions, the study of political science is utterly neglected, in others, it is true, the principles of constitutional law and of the law of nations are taught and commented upon, and in others, again, courses of political economy are delivered. But even when these subjects have been introduced, it has been, in a few praiseworthy instances excepted, with a timidity in the discussion of disputed points, lest offence should be given to any considerable portion of the public, rendering the instruction, which is attempted to be communicated, uninteresting as well as almost futile in its results. The remedy I would suggest for this unsatisfactory state of things is, wherever practicable, to provide for the contemporaneous delivery of two courses of lectures on the branches of political science in which adverse opinions are to be conciliated. What, for example, can with propriety be objected, unless it be the expense of such an arrangement, to the appointment in our several colleges of two lecturers on political economy, one of them maintaining and defending the received doctrines of this science, and the other impugning them? And if the latter should happen to be so hostile to those doctrines as to object to be styled a political economist, this will be a matter of little consequence; since nothing will be easier than for him to assume the title of lecturer on statistics, or any other title he might prefer. It should be at the option of the student or his parent which of these courses of instruction he will attend. In many instances, it is to be hoped that he would desire to attend both. The consequence of his so doing cannot but be favorable to the cause of truth and the best interests of society, and promote in a high degree that exercise of the intellectual faculties of youth, which is to them a far more valuable education than to have been the passive recipients of the contents of whole libraries, filled with the records of other men's thoughts. And here I may be permitted to express an opinion, that, besides a systematic course or courses of instruction in the various branches of political philosophy, provisions should be made in our higher seminaries to supply, what, if I am not misinformed, is still a universal deficiency in the United States;-I mean an elaborate course of instruction in history, or rather in the philosophy of history, or more than one such course, of the kind which has given origin to some of the best histories in the German language, and to which, in France, we owe the celebrated work of the eloquent and philosophic Guizot on the civilization of modern Europe. Another source to which the political philosopher looks with confidence, for aid in his efforts to improve the condition of his fellow-men, is the more extensive diffusion of the blessings of christianity. On the principles he professes to have established, its ministers, even when most 118 Distinctive Provinces of the Political Philosopher and Statesman. abstracted from worldly considerations, and devoted to the one object of preparing for death and immortality those to whom they address themselves, are also engaged, very efficiently too, in promoting the best interests of the latter in the present life. In proportion as they are successful in the exercise of their more appropriate functions, will they co-operate with all other teachers in the beneficent influence exerted by these on the public mind. In the next place, by contributing to the multiplication of the members of what my predecessor at this desk has happily denominated the great peace society of the world, that is the church of Christ, they will do much to diminish the number and magnitude of those disputes and collisions between individuals and nations, the frequent occurrence of which constitutes the greatest difficulty which the spirit of political improvement has to contend with. And this is not all. "To the poor the Gospel is preached." Christianity is, then, emphatically the religion of the poor; without however being, on this account, the less adapted to the circumstances of the rich. It has a characteristic tendency, beyond all other causes, to raise up the former, by a peaceful and almost imperceptible process, from the condition to which they have been degraded in most of the nations of the earth, to as near an approach to the condition of the latter as is consistent with the nature of things; at the same time maintaining inviolably all the rights of property, and taking naught from any one excepting such privileges as do not rightfully belong to him. In other words, Christianity tends, perhaps as much as all other causes united, to bestow upon mankind the gifts of a regulated freedom and of republican government, and to do this, it may be, quite as fast as men in general are fitted to receive and to preserve them. I may add that there is another peace society, auxiliary to the great society already mentioned, and on which the political philosopher has no little reliance for co-operation in putting some of the most important measures, flowing from his principles, into execution. The society to which I allude is no other than the mercantile community, not of this country only, but also of every other. Commerce has, at the present day more than ever, attached the nations of the earth to each other by the bonds of a mutual dependence, the true independence of civilized man. Hence it has already become a difficult matter for the more commercial among the nations to engage in war. To illustrate this, the fact may here be stated that the manufacturers of silks at Lyons, for the American market, were more instrumental, a few years ago, in maintaining the pacific relations existing between this country and France, than all other causes combined. And likewise, have we not, in the United States, begun, for commercial reasons, to regard a war with Great Britain as almost an absurdity, to be dismissed at once from our thoughts? Every extension, too, of commerce, becomes a new pledge, given by the parties concerned, for maintaining the peace of the world. Respecting the other modes, for other modes there are, in which the political influence of commerce is of the most salutary character, the exhaustion of the time allotted to my lecture will not permit me to say any thing. In conclusion, it may now be asked, whether it is at all surprising, when he contemplates the effects naturally to result from the gradual extension of religion, of education, and of commerce, putting out of view all other considerations, that the political philosopher should never despair, even in apparently the most untoward circumstances, of the fortunes of the human race. Though one statesman should disappoint his expectations, by giving up to party what was meant for mankind, and another do every thing in his power to resist, instead of promoting it, he nevertheless sees improvement surely, if at times, indeed, only slowly advancing on the car of time; and all he himself hopes to be able to accomplish, by his utmost efforts, is, in some degree, to accelerate its inevitable progress. Nor is it at all surprising that, with views and expectations like these, he should be so indisposed as he actually is to any violent changes in the constitution or laws of his country, however beneficial those changes promise ultimately to be; even were a sufficient reason not to be found, for such indisposition on his part, in the risk, as has already been stated, of injury, from the reactions not unlikely to ensue, to the cause of improvement itself. Admitting the right of revolution only in such extreme cases as our own most glorious of all revolutions, he addresses himself to the two great parties, who now stand in presence of each other in more than one European country, threatening to come into hostile collision,-saying to the one, bear long with the evils of your present condition, and do not prematurely attempt to anticipate the course of events, by the exercise of physical force, lest you injure, instead of benefiting yourselves, and to the other, yield now voluntarily, to the just demands of the great body of the people and the spirit of the age, what you will be compelled to yield up sooner or later; —if you hesitate too long, revolution and all its attendant evils cannot fail to result. To the people of our own country, marching, as they in many respects do, in the van of civilization and improvement, he speaks in a very different manner. He congratulates them that the revolution of '76, together with the subsequent adoption of the federal constitution, have rendered farther revolutions, or violent political changes, wholly unnecessary, and in the highest degree to be deprecated; at the same time urging them forward to the farther improvement of their institutions and systems of legislation by the force of an enlightened public opinion, exerted through its legitimate channels. ART. III.-THE PROTECTIVE SYSTEM.* It is certain, that for a few years past, great embarrassments have been experienced in our monetary concerns, and as certain that causes must have produced them. Many have assigned causes without attempting to show how they could operate to produce the result, while a few practical reasoners exist, who had, in advance of them, predicted all our This article is from the pen of an eminent Boston merchant, well known for his views on political economy. We have no doubt that he will be ready to meet any combatant on the ground he so concisely occupies. It may be well to state, that the writer predicted the present difficulties which now afflict the country, from the premises herein laid down. troubles, and shown by tracing the operation of cause to effect, that under existing circumstances, such embarrassments must inevitably come upon us. Among these causes is one which has operated severely for a few months past, namely, the reduction of duties on imports. This system has caused such an influx of foreign productions as to absorb all our exports and loans, and yet leave us indebted to such an extent as to jeopardize the specie on which our circulating medium is founded. All this might have been avoided by increasing instead of reducing the rate of duties, and abolishing the credits thereon in all cases. While our labor and productions are rewarded as of late years, there is placed in the hands of the people an amount of money which enables them to purchase an amount of foreign merchandise far exceeding the amount of our exports; hence the necessity of high cash duties, not only on manufactures coming directly in contact with ours, but on all manufactures, as the proceeds of our exports are nearly, or all, required to pay for foreign productions other than manufactures. If our present system continue, the consequences must be disastrous to every portion of our country-the reward of labor must be so reduced that the people cannot consume freely foreign productions, and of course, the same economy must be observed as regards home productions. Thus, the north and east must take less from the south and west, and vice versa. Under a continuance of our present system, for a series of years, there is no good reason to doubt that the consumption of cotton in this country will be 30 to 40 per cent. less than under a high protective system. This must add to our export of the article; and, although a small per centage on the whole crop, must probably reduce the price of the whole 20 to 30 per cent. Every other production of our country will, probably, share the same fate. Opponents of the protective system, argue that we should buy where we can buy cheapest, and herein they argue correctly; but they err in taking money as the standard of cost, labor being the only correct standard. Suppose a man's wages to be $300 per annum : He owes a debt of, and can pay it, He can purchase American productions at prices cor- And can purchase of foreign productions, prices of $100 00 100 00 100 00 $300 00 Reduce his wages to $150, and the productions of the country in proportion, and it will be seen that home productions at high prices are cheap, but at low prices, are dear. He pays the debt, $100 00 50 00 00 00 $150 00 This simple illustration accords with the experience of every age and nation, for wherever productions have been abundant and prices good, there has been comparatively no suffering; but, whenever they have been abundant and prices unusually low, there has always been seen |