to die of starvation."

[46] Ex. Doc. No. 271, H. of R., 28th cong., 1st sess. p. 101, _et seq._

[47] Id.--p. 70. Letter of Mr. Van Zandt to Mr. Webster.

[48] Id.--p. 100. Washington, 24th January, 1843.

[49] See Lord Brougham's speech, _ut antea_.

[50] Any one who is familiar with the condition of our Canadian frontier
will understand the ease with which smuggling in British fabrics is
carried on between the countries. An extensive business has, doubtless,
always been sustained; and it is not unusual even for the ladies of
certain towns along the frontier, to _shop_ in Canada, with the
understanding that their purchases are to be _delivered at the risk of
the British vender, on the other side of the American line_!

[51] Executive document, 271, H. of R., 28th cong., 1st sess. Letter of
Mr. Allen to Hon. R. J. Walker, and other letters copied on pages 103
and 105 of the same document.

The government of the United States entertained such views of the
grasping policy of England for reasons which are clearly set forth in an
able despatch from Mr. Calhoun to Mr. King, our envoy at the court of
France. "The question," says the secretary of state, "is, by what means
can Great Britain regain and keep a superiority in tropical cultivation,
commerce and influence? Or shall that be abandoned and other nations,
suffered to acquire the supremacy even to the extent of supplying
British markets to the destruction of the capital already vested in
their production? These are the questions which now profoundly occupy
the attention of her statesmen and have the greatest influence over her
councils.

"In order to regain her superiority she not only seeks to revive and
increase her own capacity to produce tropical productions, but to
diminish and destroy the capacity of those who have so far outstripped
her in consequence of her error. In pursuit of the former, she has cast
her eyes to her East India possessions, to Central and Eastern Africa,
with the view of establishing colonies there, and even to restore,
substantially, the slave trade itself, under the specious name of
transporting free laborers from Africa to her West India possessions, in
order, if possible, to compete successfully with those who have refused
to follow her suicidal policy. Her main reliance, however, is on the
other alternative, to cripple or destroy the productions of her
successful rivals. There is but one way by which it can be done, and
that is b