Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 69, No. 423, January 1851Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 69, No. 423, January 1851
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
America laughs at the whole crew of Manchester conspirators with
sovereign and undisguised contempt. She wants nothing from them--she
will take nothing from them. Secure in her own position, and possessing
within herself every requisite for greatness, and--what is more--for
the happiness and welfare of her children, she regards with scorn the
attempted compromise of the crippled converters, and, while she rejects
their offer, gives them a burning rebuke for their treachery to their
native land.
So far from discouraging her manufactures, she intends to protect
them; so far from concealing her mineral wealth, she has resolved to
develop that to the utmost--judging, and rightly judging, that it is
alone through the "harmony of interests" that a nation can be truly
prosperous.
Her rebuke, as contained in the documents before us, which we firmly
believe convey the sentiments of the wisest men of the Union, is
perhaps the most poignant that ever was cast in the teeth of a
civilised and Christian community. It resolves itself into this:--
"You, producers, mechanics, and artisans of Great Britain, who are
deprived of your labour, which is your only heritage, for the sake of
a few men, who will neither take your produce nor avail themselves of
your skill, come to us. We require hands to till our savannahs, to
excavate our ores, to work at the furnaces, to weave, and to spin.
Labour with us is not as in your country. The producer shall not be
sacrificed for the sake of the converter, or the converter subjected to
the precarious mercy of the producer of another land. Here, at least,
you will find an entire harmony of interests. Foreign customers you
need seek none, for every requisite of life is secured to you in return
for your labour."
And, lest it should be thought that we are putting words into the mouth
of the Americans without authority, we shall presently have occasion
to quote from the remarkable work before us.
The repeal of the Corn Laws, and of the duties levied on provisions,
have enormously, as we all know, increased the exports of America.
The following tables will show their amount, and, in the case of
provisions, the increase since the lowered tariffs came into operation.
AMOUNT OF AMERICAN EXPORTS OF GRAIN AND PROVISIONS.
GRAIN AND FLOUR.
Flour. Wheat. Corn. Cornmeal.
Year ending barrels. bushels. bushels. bushels.
June 30, 1848, 958,744 1,531,000 5,062,000 226,000
Aug. 31, 1849, 1,114,016 4,684,000 12,721,000 88,000
PROVISIONS.
Beef. Butter. Cheese.
barrels. lb. lb.
1840, 19,631 1,177,639 723,217
1841, 56,537 3,785,983 1,748,471
1844, 106,174 3,251,952 7,342,145
1849, 133,286 3,406,242 17,433,632
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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