), V., 94-149.] who
ridiculed Clay's discovery. "This favorite American policy," said
he, "is what America has never tried, and this odious foreign policy
is what, as we are told, foreign states have never pursued." He
denied the existence of general depression, although he admitted
that profits were lower and prices considerably depressed. Webster's
argument included an analysis of the theory of protection as against
free-trade, in which he made a classical statement of the opposition
to protection. In short, he represented the attitude of the
commercial classes, particularly those of New England, whose
interests were injured by any restraint of the freedom of exchange.
As yet these classes exercised a dominant influence in
Massachusetts.
Senator Hayne, of South Carolina, also argued the case against the
tariff with a grasp and power of presentation that was hardly second
to that of Webster. In particular he protested against compelling
the planting regions to pay the cost of a protective system.
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