HARVARD Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by J. T. BUCKINGHAM, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. PRINTED BY THURSTON, TORRY, AND EMERSON. PERSONAL MEMOIRS. THE BOSTON COURIER. In the beginning of the year 1824, the increased and rapidly increasing business and population of Boston seemed to require the establishment of a new daily paper,* and to justify a hope that such a project would not prove an abortion. Encouraged by assurances of support from friends among the merchants and manufacturers, a prospectus was issued, which met with so much favor as led to the publication of the first number of the Boston Courier, on the second day of March. The paper was intended to be the especial and avowed advocate of the "American System," in other words, the exponent of the views and purposes of those who were struggling to obtain from Congress the enactment of a protective tariff. In * Prior to the year 1813, numerous efforts had been made to establish a daily paper in Boston, all of which were unsuccessful, and involved the projectors in pecuniary embarrassments. In that year, the Boston Daily Advertiser appeared, published by Horatio Bigelow and William W. Clapp. These gentlemen sold their interest in the paper to Nathan Hale, under whose management it gained a permanent footing, and still maintains a prominent position, surrounded by a host of cotemporary dailies. politics, it was proposed to be entirely independent of any attachment to either of the great parties of the time. Early associations had attached me to the Federalists, and my political sympathies, so far as there had been occasion or opportunity for their indulgence, had been exercised in favor of that party. Though the party had then ceased to exist as a distinct organization, yet regard for the men who had been its oracles and leaders, and my entire confidence in their political and moral integrity, had not been diminished or weakened by the disastrous position into which they had fallen. The prominent feature intended to be exhibited in the character of the Courier was uncompromising adherence to what I believed to be the great and overwhelming interest of the country, namely, protection to infant manufactures of cotton. and woollen cloths, and to all agricultural, mechanical, and manufacturing products, against foreign competition. In short, to uphold and advocate all measures that could tend to develop the natural resources of the country, and to encourage and support the operations of American labor, ingenuity, and industry. To effect this object was the constant and almost daily task of the editor and his correspondents. In this respect, the Courier stood almost alone. Not a paper in Massachusetts, and not more than three or four in the United States, then appeared as the champions of this policy.* Many supposed that it would destroy all our foreign commerce and navigation, and it was ridiculed as a *All the exceptions I can now recollect were the Providence Journal, the New-York Statesman, and a paper in Philadelphia, the name of which is forgotten. 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 |