system of Japanese economy, that would eventually shut us out from all social or commercial intercourse with the rest of the world. The whole scheme of protection by a tariff was treated by its opponents with sarcastic reproaches and honored with the name of the "terrapin system." The course I had marked out for myself was the result of long-cherished views of justice to our own people, and was approved and encouraged by others, whose opinion and judgement were entitled to the highest consideration. First among these was the Hon. Daniel Webster, then a representative in Congress from the city of Boston. It was partly through his influence with two or three wealthy individuals, that a portion of the funds required to carry on the publication, in the early stages of its existence, was obtained. Of the merchants and manufacturers, who favored the enterprize in its infant struggles, were Isaac C. Pray, Samuel Billings, Charles Thacher, George Hallett, Joseph Baker, Joshua Clap, and Jonas B. Brown, whose kindness and support, in many circumstances of doubt and depression, were of vital importance to the cause. ALL these gentlemen are dead; but memory lingers with melancholy pleasure upon their unceasing protection and sustaining countenance.

Of the early life of Mr. PRAY I know but little. He was a native of Maine, and, as early as the year 1800, was living in Berwick, where he was a dealer in lumber, and kept a small store of groceries and West India goods. He has often said that he had been employed in sawing lumber, in saw-pits, at fifty cents a night. About the year 1805, he formed a partner

ship with Robert Waterston, an emigrant from Scotland; and this partnership continued more than forty years. In 1812, they removed to Boston, and were largely concerned in the importation of foreign goods. At the close of the war, in 1815, Mr. Pray entered with great spirit into the manufacture of cotton; and, a few years later, he lost an immense sum in the destruction of a cotton factory at Saco. But not disheartened by the disasters of war or the destruction of property by fire and flood, he pursued, almost to the end of his life, his favorite object, which was to establish the "American System" on a basis that should bid defiance to all foreign competition. His advantages of education had been very limited, but his natural abilities were of a very superior order. He had studied the nature and the results of the Protective Policy, and could demolish, in a brief conversation, the strongest argument of any opponent of his doctrines. Yet his manner was by no means dictatorial, overbearing, or offensive; but, on the contrary, was remarkably mild and courteous. He did not often write, but he furnished facts and calculations that formed the basis of many articles that appeared in the Courier in defence of the system of protection. Although he had read much on the science of political economy, he built his theory on facts that came within his own observation, and inferences which he drew therefrom, rather than on the arguments of others. He was a man of a temper not easily excitable, but one that would not suffer imposition or dishonesty to go unrebuked. As a man of business, he was correct and upright; as a friend, he was liberal and kind

hearted; as a citizen, he was always ready to aid in any project that required the support of the patriotic and public-spirited. He died in January, 1847.

Messrs. BILLINGS, HALLETT, BAKER, and THACHer, were merchants in good repute, and by their lives and conduct maintained the dignity and honor of the mercantile character. Mr. Billings was a member of the first board of aldermen after Boston was incorporated as a city. Mr. Hallett was a native of Barnstable, and came to Boston, when quite a lad, as an apprentice with Allen & Tucker, wholesale grocers. He accumulated a handsome property, and had a numerous family of children, to whom he left the legacy of an unsullied name. Mr. Baker originated in the county of Essex, to which he returned after many years of successful trade in Boston. Mr. Thacher was a son of the Rev. Peter Thacher, minister of the church in Brattle-street. A warm-hearted friend and agreeable companion, he was, perhaps, too liberal for his own. benefit. Neither of the four gentlemen mentioned in this paragraph, except Mr. Billings, was, at the commencement of the publication of the Courier, interested in manufactures; but they were men who were willing that the system should be fairly tried, and were ready to aid with their purses the progress of the experiment. It is believed that all of them became in some degree, afterward, involved in the business of manufacturing.

JOSHUA CLAP was a native of Westfield, in the county of Hampden. He was unknown to me till he came to subscribe for the Courier, and to offer his assistance in promoting the publication. He was then about

erecting a large woollen factory in Leicester, which he soon after completed. A village soon grew up around the factory, which, in memory of its founder, has been called Clapville. The speculation turned out to be an unfortunate one. Mr. Clay's famous "compromise" of 1832, admitted the importation of woollen cloths, which were introduced from the glutted warehouses of Great-Britain, and sold at a price with which no American manufacturer could think of competition. After suffering the loss of property to a large amount by this ruinous" compromise," a finishing blow was given to Mr. Clap's prosperity by the burning of his factory. He died in 1841.

JONAS B. BROWN came to Boston at the age of sixteen, from some town in the interior of NewHampshire, and was domesticated in the family and counting-room of William Tileston. At the expiration of his minority, he became a partner in business with Mr. Tileston, and from that moment he was a thoroughgoing advocate for the protection of domestic industry in all its branches. He was not the advocate of protection merely; he was pre-eminently the workingman of the whole concern. His understanding was clear and comprehensive. He wrote much, and wrote well, and he spared neither labor nor expense to effect his object. Journey after journey he made to Washington, and spent days and nights,-nay, weeks and months, in attendance on Congress, to explain his views, and to urge upon the members the benefits that would result to the whole nation by the adoption of measures that would encourage and sustain industrial efforts to increase the products of manufacturing,

agricultural, and mechanical labor. It is not giving too much credit to his untiring perseverance and intelligent representations, to say, that he was the chief agent in procuring the enactment of the tariff of 1828. Mr. Brown began his career with no property, and with no means but such as nature and a country school had furnished him with; but he was the vital spark which kept alive the whole body that was dying for lack of protection. He erected a large woollen factory at Millbury, in the county of Worcester, and produced there from fabrics of a superior kind, that were pronounced fit to enter into competition with most of the British and German cloths. But the " compromise was fatal to his prospects. Excessive importations produced the insolvency and bankruptcy of nearly all the manufacturers of New-England, and Mr. Brown was not exempted from the common lot. He fought manfully to sustain the doctrines of protection, to preserve his own property from the sacrifice that was impending, and to assist his fellow-sufferers. But without success. Worn out with incessant labor, physical and mental, he died before he had attained the age of forty years. A subscription, after his death, among those who had been his friends and co-laborers, placed his widow and her two children in a comfortable situation, very proper tribute to the memory of him whose talents had been exerted for their benefit, - a man, whose heart was liberal almost to a fault, whose soul was the home of uprightness and honor.

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Such were the men to whom I was chiefly indebted for encouragement in an undertaking of very doubtful success. Others there were whose good wishes were