young man with no capital, thus leaving the field open to the capitalist, and the latter destroying the means by which the poorer classes were enabled to accumulate and become gradually independent.

The credit system, against which we have heard so much for the last few years, is the breath of life to the man of moderate means; but the capitalist has no need of it. He can do without it, and his money becomes of more value to him, and gives him greater influence and power in proportion as the rising competition of credit is destroyed. In such a state of things the rich become richer, and the poor poorer, and power is added to wealth, instead of being taken from it, by the very means that were taken to produce the opposite result. One of the great arguments for the destruction of the United States Bank and erecting the Sub-Treasury upon its ruins, was, that it would tend to break down the credit system. So far as it has had that effect, just so far has power been added to the capitalist and taken from the poorer and laboring classes. "Save me from my friends," however honestly they may have acted, may well be said by those classes, in view of our free trade and hard currency legislation, which was designed for their especial benefit, but which inures to the benefit of interests very different from their own.

That we may see, temporarily, better times and an easier money market, than at present, there is no

doubt, but if I am not mistaken, as soon as money becomes easy, away will go orders for foreign goods, or they will be sent over on manufacturers' account; exchange will rise and specie go forward, as we have seen it for the last two years, bringing back the same state of things we have had, and it will be fortunate for us if it be not worse. We may keep from sinking by constantly pumping out the ship, but it would be wiser for us to stop the leak which has been for some time gaining upon us.

It is said to have been remarked by Sir Robert Peel, that in England he should be in favor of free trade, but in this country he should of course favor protection. A very honest confession, which contains in fact the sum and substance of the whole matter that we have discussed. A sober second thought will, it is to be hoped, bring us to understand our own interests, at least as well as they were understood by that eminent English statesman.

THE HARD TIMES.

SEPT. 17, 1857.

THE minds of many men are so constituted that they can be aroused only by the most violent means, and by events which bring home to their pockets the convictions which, to others, might have been the plain and simple conclusions of reason and common sense. It is natural to man to deceive himself, and to glory in his self-deception; to adopt some delusive theory, and to be unwilling to be awakened from his pleasing dream. He is angry with those who would undeceive him. His self-love is wounded, his pride is mortified, when he is told that his favorite theory is based upon nothing, and is more unsubstantial than the baseless fabric of a vision, which vanishes and leaves not a wreck behind. He is willing to lose and to suffer, rather than give up his cherished opinions. The time comes, however, when he must give them up, or give up the reasoning faculty with which he has been endowed. He must admit that he has been deceived and deluded, or else that he cannot

rely on the evidence which is plain and palpable to his senses. Such has been the condition of many who deluded themselves with the theory of free trade. They have long suspected that they had taken the wrong path, and one that was leading to individual and national bankruptcy, but they have hoped that their suspicions might be groundless, that their pride of opinion might be saved, and that they might not be compelled to give up their cherished notions about adding to our wealth by foreign importations, and by exporting our gold and similar absurdities. The time seems coming, if not already here, when the value of such theories is to be tested, and when the great balance-sheet of the last ten years' work is to be footed up. We shall know before long how rich we have grown under a low tariff of duties, and how favorably the tariff of 1846 has operated for the country, as we have been told in our last two Presidential messages.

Thus far the stockholders in our various manufacturing establishments have principally suffered by the flood of foreign goods, having been unwilling, as well as unable, without greater loss, to stop work, and thus throw out of employment thousands of operatives. Many of these operatives, if not a majority of them, have voted constantly against their employers, and against their own pockets, as they are now beginning to see. The pressure has at last