anufactures, may be found in his speech delivered in the
Senate of the United States, on the 25th and 26th of July, 1846, on the
Bill "To reduce the Duties on Imports, and for other Purposes." In this
speech, he made the following frank avowal of the reasons which induced
him to reconsider and reverse his original opinions on the subject:--

"But, Sir, before I proceed further with this part of the case, I
will take notice of what appears, latterly, to be an attempt, by
the republication of opinions and expressions, arguments and
speeches of mine, at an earlier and later period of life, to found
against me a charge of inconsistency, on this subject of the
protective policy of the country. Mr. President, if it be an
inconsistency to hold an opinion upon a subject at one time and in
one state of circumstances, and to hold a different opinion upon
the same subject at another time and in a different state of
circumstances, I admit the charge. Nay, Sir, I will go further; and
in regard to questions which, from their nature, do not depend upon
circumstances for their true and just solution, I mean
constitutional questions, if it be an inconsistency to hold an
opinion to-day, even upon such a question, and on that same
question to hold a different opinion a quarter of a century
afterwards, upon a more comprehensive view of the whole subject,
with a more thorough investigation into the original purposes and
objects of that Constitution, and especially after a more thorough
exposition of those objects and purposes by those who framed it,
and have been trusted to administer it, I should not shrink even
from that imputation. I hope I know more of the Constitution of my
country than I did when I was twenty years old. I hope I have
contemplated its great objects more broadly. I hope I have read
with deeper interest the sentiments of the great men who framed it.
I hope I have studied with more care the condition of the country
when the convention assembled to form it. And yet I do not know
that I have much to retract or to change on these points.

"But, Sir, I am of the opinion of a very eminent person, who had
occasion, not long since, to speak of this topic in another place.
Inconsistencies of opinion, arising from changes of circumstances,
are often justifiable. But there is one