griculture, the indispensable basis
of all, was never more flourishing. The farmers and planters at
no other period of our history were in receipt of such good prices,
steadily paid to them in gold coin, for their surplus product,
which they could send to the domestic market over our own railways
and to the foreign market in our own ships.

COMPARISON OF REVENUE SYSTEMS.

Assertions as to the progress of manufactures in the period under
discussion are denied by the protectionists. While admitting the
general correctness of the free-trader's statements as to the
prosperous condition of the country, they call attention to the
fact that directly after the enactment of the tariff of 1846 the
great famine occurred in Ireland, followed in the ensuing years by
short crops in Europe. The prosperity which came to the American
agriculturist was therefore from causes beyond the sea and not at
home,--causes which were transient, indeed almost accidental.
Moreover an exceptional condition of affairs existed in the United
States in consequence of our large acquisition of territory from
Mexico at the close of the war and the subsequent and almost
immediate discovery of gold in California. A new and extended
field of trade was thus opened in which we had the monopoly, and
an enormous surplus of money was speedily created from the products
of the rich mines on the Pacific coast. At the same time Europe
was in convulsion from the revolutions of 1848, and production was
materially hindered over a large part of the Continent. This
disturbance had scarcely subsided when three leading nations of
Europe, England, France, and Russia, engaged in the wasteful and
expensive war of the Crimea. This struggle began in 1853 and ended
in 1856, and during those years it increased consumption and
decreased production abroad, and totally closed the grain-fields
of Russia from any competition with the United States.

The protectionists therefore hold that the boasted prosperity of
the country under the tariff of 1846 was abnormal in origin and in
character. It depended upon a series of events exceptional at home
and even more exceptional abroad,--events which by the doctrine of
probabilities would not be repeated for centuries. When peace was
restored in Europe, when foreign looms and forges were set going
with renewed strength, when Russia resumed her export of wheat,
and when at home the output o