Could the choice have been given to us, for the abode of our population, of a dead alluvial plain of twice the extent, every one feels that it would have been bad policy to accept the offer. Every one perceives that this natural water power is a vast accession to the wealth and capital of a state. The colonial system annihilated it, or, what was the same thing, prevented its application. To all practical purposes, it reduced the beautiful diversity of the surface — nature's grand and lovely landscape gardening of vale and mountain -to that dull alluvial level. The rivers broke over the rapids; but the voice of nature and Providence, which cried from them, "Let these be the seats of your creative industry," was uttered in vain. It was an element of prosperity which we held in unconscious possession. It is scarcely credible how completely the thoughts of men had been turned in a different direction. There is probably no country on the surface of the globe, of the same extent, on which a greater amount of this natural capital has been bestowed by Providence; but a century and a half passed by, not merely before it began to be profitably applied on a large scale, but before its existence even began to be suspected, and this in places where some of its greatest accumulations are found. If a very current impression in this community is not destitute of foundation, the site of Lowell itself was examined, no very long time before the commencement of the first factories here, and the report brought back was, that it presented no available water power. Does it not strike every one who hears me, that, in calling this water power into action, the country has gained just as much as it would by the gratuitous donation of the same amount of steam power; with the additional advantage in favor of the former, that it is, from the necessity of the case, far more widely distributed, stationed at salubrious spots, and unaccompanied with most of the disadvantages and evils incident to manufacturing establishments moved by steam in the crowded streets and unhealthy suburbs of large cities?

Of all this vast wealth bestowed upon the land by Providence, brought into the common stock by the great partner,

Nature, the colonial system, as I have observed, deprived us; and it is only since the establishment of our own manufactures that we have begun to turn it to account. Even now, the smallest part of it has been rendered available; and what has thus far been done is not so much important for its own sake as for pointing the way and creating an inducement for further achievements in the same direction. There is water power enough in the United States, as yet unapplied, to sustain the industry of a population a hundred fold as large as that now in existence.

I do not wish to overstate this point, or to imply that it was owing to the restrictions of the colonial system that such a town as Lowell had not grown up in America in the middle of the last century, or at some still earlier period. There were not only no adequate accumulations of capital at that time, but those inventions and improvements in machinery had not been made, which have contributed so much to the growth of manufactures within the last fifty years. There is something, however, quite remarkable in the eagerness with which our forefathers, at a very early period, turned their attention to manufactures. Our colonial history contains very curious facts in reference to this subject; and it is not to be doubted that, if no legislative obstacles to the pursuit of this branch of industry had existed, and it had received the same kind of encouragement which was extended to the staple agriculture of the plantation colonies, a very different state of things would have existed at the revolution. Such certainly was the opinion entertained in England; for such was the principle of the whole legislation of the mother country. The great and sagacious statesmen who ruled her councils for a century would not, under all administrations, have persevered in a course of policy towards the colonies, manifestly arbitrary in its character and extremely vexatious in its operation, if they had not been persuaded that, but for this legislation, successful attempts would be made for the development of manufacturing industry.

Connected with this is another benefit of the utmost importance, and not wholly dissimilar in kind. The population

gathered at a manufacturing establishment is to be fed, and this gives an enhanced value to the land in all the neighboring region. In this new country the land often acquires a value in this way for the first time. A large number of persons in this assembly are well able to contrast the condition of the villages in the neighborhood of Lowell with what it was ten or twelve years ago, when Lowell itself consisted of two or three quite unproductive farms. It is the contrast of production with barrenness; of cultivation with waste; of plenty with an absence of every thing but the bare necessaries of life. The effect, of course, in one locality is of no great account in the sum of national production throughout the extent of the land. But wherever a factory is established this effect is produced; and every individual to whom they give employment ceases to be a producer, and becomes a consumer of agricultural produce. The aggregate effect is, of course, of the highest importance.

This circumstance constitutes that superiority of a domestic over a foreign market, which is acknowledged by the most distinguished writers on political economy.

"The capital which is employed," says Adam Smith, "in purchasing in one part of the country, in order to sell in another the produce of the industry of that country, generally replaces by every such operation two distinct capitals, that had both been employed in the agriculture or manufactures of that country, and thereby enables them to continue that employment. When it sends out from the residence of the merchant a certain value of commodities, it generally brings back in return at least an equal value of other commodities. When both are the produce of domestic industry, it necessarily replaces, by every such operation, two distinct capitals, which had both been employed in supporting productive labor, and thereby enables them to continue that support. The capital

employed in purchasing foreign goods for home consumption, when this purchase is made with the produce of domestic industry, replaces too, by every such operation, two distinct capitals; but one of them only is employed in supporting domestic industry. * Though the

returns, therefore, of the foreign trade of consumption should be as quick as those of the home trade, the capital employed in it will give but one half of the encouragement to the industry or productive labor of the country.

"But the returns of the foreign trade of consumption are very seldom so quick as those of the home trade. The returns of the home trade gen

erally come in before the end of the year, and sometimes three or four times in the year. The returns of the foreign trade of consumption seldom come in before the end of the year, and sometimes not till after two or three years. A capital, therefore, employed in the home trade, will sometimes make twelve operations, or be sent out and returned twelve times, before a capital employed in the foreign trade of consumption has made one. If the capitals are equal, therefore, the one will give four and twenty times more encouragement and support to the industry of the country than the other." *

It is a familiar remark, of which all, I believe, admit the justice, that a variety of pursuits is a great advantage to a community. It affords scope to the exercise of the boundless variety of talent and capacity which are bestowed by nature, and which are sure to be developed by an intelligent population, if encouragement and opportunity are presented. In this point of view, the establishment of manufacturing industry, in all its departments, is greatly to be desired in every country, and has had an influence in ours of a peculiar character. I have already alluded to the fact that, with the erection of an independent government, a vast domain in the west was for the first time thrown freely open to settlement. As soon as the Indian frontier was pacified by the treaty of Greenville, a tide of emigration began to flow into the territory north-west of the Ohio; and from no part of the country more rapidly than from Massachusetts. In many respects this was a circumstance by no means to be regretted. It laid the foundation of the settlement of this most important and interesting region by a kindred race; and it opened to the mass of enterprising adventurers from the older states a short road to competence. But it was a serious drain upon the population of good old Massachusetts. The temptation of the fee simple of some of the best land in the world for two dollars an acre, and that on credit, (for such, till a few years ago, was the land system of the United States,) was too powerful to be resisted by the energetic and industrious young men of the New England States, in which there is but a limited quantity of fertile land, and that little of course

1817.

Smith's Wealth of Nations, Vol. II. pp. 135, 136, Edinburgh ed.

to be had only at a high price. The consequence was, that although the causes of an increase of population existed in New England to as great a degree, with this exception, as in any other part of the world, the actual increase was far from rapid; scarcely amounting to one half of the average rate of the country. *The singular spectacle was exhibited of a community abounding in almost all the elements of prosperity, possessing every thing calculated to engage the affections of her children, annually deserted by the flower of her population. These remarks apply with equal force to all the other New England States, with the exception of Maine, where an abundance of unoccupied fertile land counterbalances the attractions of the west.

But this process of emigration has already received a check, and is likely to be hereafter adequately regulated by the new demand for labor of every kind and degree, consequent upon the introduction of manufactures. This new branch of industry, introduced into the circle of occupations, is creating a demand for a portion of that energy and spirit of acquisition which have heretofore carried our young men beyond the Ohio, and beyond the Wabash. Obvious and powerful

causes will continue to direct considerable numbers in the same path of adventure; but it will not be, as it was at the commencement of this century, almost the only outlet for the population of the older states. In short, a new alternative of career is now presented to the rising generation.

There is another point of importance, in reference to manufactures, which ought not to be omitted in this connection, and it is this that in addition to what may be called their direct operation and influence, manufactures are a great school for all the practical arts. As they are aided themselves, in the progress of inventive sagacity, by hints and materials from every art and every science, and every kingdom of nature, so, in their turn, they create the skill and furnish the instruments for carrying on almost all the other pursuits. Whatever per

* From 1820 to 1830, although some check had been given to emigration from this state, the rate of increase of the population of Massachusetts was sixteen and one half per centum; that of the whole United States thirtytwo and four fifths.