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any such purpose, by granting a protection which cripples our energies and destroys our trade. But, look abroad, and what do we see? Why, to take America alone, there is a country which has the soil and the facilities for raising corn enough to supply almost any demand, and which is willing to give it at a reasonable price in exchange for our goods. What is the plain dictate of these facts? Why, "foster your manufactures, which is your interest, and let America grow corn, which is its interest, but do not foolishly injure both countries by trying to be yourselves, and compelling the other to be, what obviously frustrates the benevolent design of God. Thus you shall bless America with the works of your hands, and America bless you with the produce of its soil."
"If God's free bounty bids this globe produce
More than enough for all his creatures' use,
Shall man monopolize the rich supply,
See brutes full fed, while fellow-mortals die?
Forbid it, Heaven! while earth in her rich fields.
For man and beast alike abundance yields,
Free as the winds, and chainless as the sea,
Should intercourse between all nations be,
Wherever land is found, or oceans roll,
Or man exists—from Indus to the Pole.
Then would unfettered industry be paid
In the rich wealth its own free hands had made.
Then would mankind fulfil heaven's first decree,
And earth with "fruitfulness" replenished be.
Then would war's blood-red banners soon be furled,
And peace triumphant reign throughout the world;
While freighted fleets would traverse every sea,
And commerce wing her way, unchecked and free;
Island be linked to island—main to main—
Binding all nature fast in love's harmonious chain."
IV. The Corn Law injuriously affects the moral and religious character of the people.
Want weakens the body, and, through it, the mind, promotes diseases that injure the mind, and checks its ad-
