CHAPTER XXII.

Interval between the Two Sessions of Congress-Visit to New YorkSpeech at Castle Garden, October 14, 1850-Jenny Lind-Great Concert in Philadelphia—Opening of the December Session of Congress— State of the Country-Social Life in Washington-Sir Henry L. Bulwer-Mr. Corcoran-Mr. Benjamin Ogle Tayloe-Adjournment of Congress.

THE interval between the second session of Congress was so brief that I decided not to return home, but to seek recreation in a visit to the North. I proceeded to New York, and passed some time there in visiting objects of interest, in receiving social attentions, and in meeting eminent men. I received an invitation to visit the American Institute, at Castle Garden, and delivered a speech there on the 14th of October, 1850. I thought it a proper occasion to contribute something to the encouragement of a national sentiment throughout the whole country. Having been introduced by General Tallmadge, I was received with enthusiasm, and said:

"I feel myself honored, fellow-citizens, in being thus introduced to you by the venerable and distinguished President of the American Institute, who has so long devoted his talents and energies for the cause of industry and development of the resources of this great State.

"And I feel myself honored, too, in being thus received by you, representing as you do the industry, the skiil, the wealth, and the enterprise which are so rapidly advancing our country in civilization.

"I come to you from a distant State-a State known to you mainly, so far, by its agriculture, yet not wanting in mineral resources, and already engaged successfully in manufactures. But coming from that State to this emporium of commercethis city which has already outstripped every city on the continent of Europe, and which is destined soon to rival the great metropolis of England itself,-coming to this city, I feel there are some considerations which bind us together in common sympathy.

"I can on the present occasion, when there is so much all around you to interest you, advert to but one or two of these considerations. The first of these is that we belong to the same country; we are all Americans; we are all citizens of one government. I come from a State washed by the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and I am now in a city belonging to a great State washed by the Saint Lawrence, and stand this evening in a building against which the waves of New York Bay break; yet the broad expanse which stretches between New York and Alabama, between your home and my home, is our common country. Every part of it-every plain, and mountain, and stream, and village, and city, all belong to us; and over the whole extent of it the same great and beneficent political system spreads its majestic proportions.

"The same flag that floats over your ship floats over ours; the same historic recollections which warm your hearts warm ours; and the same future that is opened to your eyes is opened to ours. Diversities I know there are; great States called by different names there are; but they are not hostile States. No fortress frowns upon the streams which mark their boundaries; it is but an extension of the same family; they have spread from the Atlantic shores to the Mississippi, to the Rocky Mountains, to the Pacific coast, but they have borne with them everywhere the same religious and political institutions.

"As Americans, therefore, I know that in this we shall sympathize with each other-we have a common country; common in its origin, common in its history, and common in its destiny. There is another consideration to which I will advert. It is

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this we are all alike interested in the success of American industry; we feel we are pledged to this great cause. The industry which belongs to the North interests us of the South; and, gentlemen, I say to you, standing here as a Representative in the Congress of the United States, in my judgment a common government ought to grant a wise, moderate, and steady protection to American industry.

"I believe that agriculture, the first great employment of man -the noblest employment of man,-agriculture, which takes one from his fireside into the fields, where, with the plough, he turns the soil to the face of heaven, and casts the seed in with his hands,-agriculture should enjoy the support of the government, whose protection should always be equally extended to the mechanic arts. Let the artisan who labors at the forge or in the workshop feel that his government cares for and protects him, and he will feel an interest in the prosperity of his government.

"I regard this exhibition as one of the noblest displays of American character. It is like America.

"Some years since, when in Europe, I witnessed an exhibition of industry in Paris. It was composed chiefly of articles of beauty and grace. Everywhere the eye rested on some article marked by exquisite skill. Everything attested the perfection to which art had been carried in some of these branches.

"But when I entered your fair to-night I found that you are employed chiefly in the production of useful articles; I find here the plough, the scythe, the axe, and among these the manufactures of our looms. Of all the branches of human industry and specimens of excellent skill, the great elements I see are those of power-mighty industries spreading happiness over the land.

"In former times wealth and industry were expended for the benefit of the few. The head of a powerful dynasty, one who had his retainers, enjoyed chiefly the result of their labors. It is not so now. The skill of the mechanic, the power of the artisan, and the wealth of the capitalists, these are now employed for the benefit of the masses; not to make the great greater, the rich richer, but to spread comfort among the

masses, to make their firesides smile with happiness, and their children rejoice in the home of industry.

"This is the great picture which America presents-industry diffusing wealth among the masses. It is a glorious spectacle of widespread happiness. The tendency of our institutions is to diffuse wealth rather than to concentrate it in a few hands, and I rejoice that it is so. But understand me; wealth is entitled to protection as well as industry. I have no sympathy with that class of reformers who would strip the wealthy of their possessions and scatter them abroad in the vain hope of augmenting the sum of human happiness by destroying the great principles which bind society together. Far be it from me, gentlemen. I would have every man enjoy his individual property. I am for that sort of industry which spreads wealth among the laboring classes, and elevates them gradually to the scale that rises above them.

"Government is constituted for the good of those who support it; no government can be stable or powerful which is not administered for their benefit. I find that I have announced a great political doctrine; it is one which history teaches, and future generations will write it upon the face of the whole earth. No government ought to stand which overlooks or neglects the welfare of its people. The American government, the greatest popular government which the world has ever beheld, is established for the protection of its people in all their rights at home and abroad. When the American citizen quits his own shores he looks to his government for protection against the tyranny of other governments; upon the high sea he feels in the flag that floats over him ample security, because the whole power of America goes with that flag, and wherever he may go in his travels he feels that his far-distant home guarantees his safety.

"But, gentlemen, this is not the only object for which our government was established. The citizen must be protected in the enjoyment of the fruits of his industry. The government, in conducting its great operations, must not overlook the individual prosperity of its people, or sacrifice their personal welfare merely to advance the glory of the state. It

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should, in its action, foster the labor of its people. I do not mean that it should shower benefits upon the indolent; far from it. We raise our revenue by laying imposts. Now, are we to do this for the purpose of raising the greatest amount of revenue, and thus increase our treasury? Far from it. We are so to lay them upon foreign imports as to discriminate in favor of our own industry, not so as to keep out the foreign article, but to do what shall result to the benefit of the producer at home. While we thus raise an ample revenue, and carry on the government, we shall make the system tributary to the prosperity of the whole country-the North and the South, and to all classes-the manufacturer and the planter.

. . This sentiment I adhere to; here and elsewhere I proclaim it; I desire to see the Union which binds these States stand. To perpetuate it we must be just to each other. . . . Let us then stand by the Constitution. The enemies of the Constitution are the enemies of the government, the enemies of the country. The government cannot exist unless the Constitution is to be obeyed. If some of its provisions seem to bear hard on you, you must remember that some of its provisions seem to bear hard on us. The Constitution must be respected. Its authority is supreme. We must bear and forbear. When a crisis comes which appeals to our sectional sentiments-a crisis which would array the North against the South-let us rekindle our patriotism by going back to the scenes in which the great, the good men took part who formed the Constitution, and we shall learn from them to deal with each other as members of the same great family, and to cherish a patriotism broad enough to embrace our whole country.

"I thank you, fellow-citizens, for your kind indulgence in bearing with me, and for the very cordial manner in which you have responded to the sentiments which I have ventured to express."

Some days previous to my visit to New York, a great musical event had occurred. Mlle. Jenny Lind, the Swedish nightingale, had arrived. Her splendid career in Europe was well known. Not only was she a match