e that very intelligent persons differ upon this point; but if we
may safely infer from that difference of opinion, that the proposed
benefit is at least doubtful, it would be prudent perhaps to abstain
from the experiment. Certain it is, that the same reasoning has been
employed, as I have before stated, on the same subject, when a renewed
application was made to the English Parliament to repeal the duty on
imported wool, I believe scarcely two months ago; those who supported
the application pressing urgently the necessity of an unrestricted use
of the cheap, imported raw material, with a view to supply with coarse
cloths the markets of warm climates, such as those of Egypt and Turkey,
and especially a vast newly created demand in the South American states.

As to the manufactures of cotton, it is agreed, I believe, that they are
generally successful. It is understood that the present existing duty
operates pretty much as a prohibition over those descriptions of fabrics
to which it applies. The proposed alteration would probably enable the
American manufacturer to commence competition with higher-priced
fabrics; and so, perhaps, would an augmentation less than is here
proposed. I consider the cotton manufactures not only to have reached,
but to have passed, the point of competition. I regard their success as
certain, and their growth as rapid as the most impatient could well
expect. If, however, a provision of the nature of that recommended here
were thought necessary, to commence new operations in the same line of
manufacture, I should cheerfully agree to it, if it were not at the cost
of sacrificing other great interests of the country. I need hardly say,
that whatever promotes the cotton and woollen manufactures promotes most
important interests of my constituents. They have a great stake in the
success of those establishments, and, as far as those manufactures are
concerned, would be as much benefited by the provisions of this bill as
any part of the community. It is obvious, too, I should think, that, for
some considerable time, manufactures of this sort, to whatever magnitude
they may rise, will be principally established in those parts of the
country where population is most dense, capital most abundant, and where
the most successful beginnings have already been made.

But if these be thought to be advantages, they are greatly
counterbalanced by other advantages enjoyed by other portions of the
country. I cannot