4 It is in vain to disguise from ourselves the reality of our population, would have only half as much revenue as present condition. It would be the weakness of child-their southern neighbor. How long, then, would they be hood to suppose that" coming events" can be obviated without the blessings of internal taxes and excise duties? by closing our eyes upon them. But, sir, while I trust in But, above all, where would be the bounties and the bless God that the catastrophe to which reference is here dis-ings of the protecting system? Gone, sir, utterly and irretinctly made, will never occur, I cannot but remind the coverably vanished. It would remain as a dead letter upmajority that the responsibility will be placed at their on our statule book, like the well known preamble of an doors by the judgment of the world and of after ages, if infatuated ministry in another country, from whose ex-, such should be the result of this unhapy controversy. Let ample much profit might be derived if gentlemen would those who discourse so eloquently on the manifold advan duly consider it. If, therefore, this bill would impoverish tages of the Union, address themselves to that majority and desolate the manufacturing States, what, I pray you, who may now hold in their hands the detinies of that would be the effect of a dissolution of the Union on their Union. The minority are as utterly powerless here, on prosperity? And yet, sir, we hear the blind and infatuatthis question, as if they had no representative on this ed advocates of the protecting system, uttering their anafloor; and it now only remains for them to make this last themas against the people of the southern States, because solemn appeal to the justice of their brethren, and, I will they will not submit to be slaves, and insultingly exclaimadd, to the prudence of their oppressors. No man can ing let them go." I will here call the attention of the +place a higher estimate than I do upon this Union, while committee to a few extracts from the Weekly Register of its burthens are equally distributed,and its blessings equal- Mr. Niles, to show the spirit which animates one of the ly diffused, upon the principles of that sacred covenant leading advocates of this system. I give his very words: "The musket bearers of the land, the men who know which is at once the measure of our rights and our obliga tions under it. But, sir, I must be allowed to say, that it their rights, and knowing, dare maintain them, cannot is for the majority to" calculate the value of the Union," submit to that legislation which shall grind themselves inwhile the minority are driven to the painful alternative to poverty, that the wild fancies and avaricious propensi of calculating the value of that which, in their "just esti-ties of a few men of the nation of South Caroniaa, and mation," is far "above all price." The question for some in lower Virginia, may be indulged." "So long as the manufacturing States to determine is, "what portion the father of waters rolls one drop to the sea, so long may of your unlawful gains will you surrender to save the any compromise be rejected with such selfish and proud Union? That for the southern States-what portion of men.""Nullifiers, who rejoice that liberty confers no your unalienable rights will you relinquish to effect the blessings, save on those who live on the labor of others." Looking forward with exultation to the ultimate ruin. same purpose?" of the slave holding States, he exclaims. And, sir, I will take the liberty of suggesting to the northern gentlemen, that, independent of the value of the Union in a political point of view-a value in which we all have a common interest-its pecuniary value would be by no means inconsiderable to the manufacturing States, even under the proposed arrangement of the duties, while the pecuniary interests of the southern States would feel nothing but its burthens. But, sir, with the people of the southern States, this is not a pecuniary question of profit and loss, but a question of constitutional liberty. If they were voluntarily to surrender, to an irresponsible majority the unlimiting right of appropriating their property to its own use, they would be the slaves of that majority; for no man has a right to that which another man has a right take from him.' "The fox shall burrow in the wine vault, the rattlesnake repose among the rubbish of the green-house, and bats take possession of the ball-100m. It is the will of Heaven, and just." I present these extracts without commentary, in the con fident hope that they will be rebuked and reprobated by every member of this committee, and every man in this nation, who has any regard for the harmony of the Union. Mr. Chairman: owing to the peculiar circumstances in which she has been placed, and not because she claims, to have more intelligence or patriotism than the other southern States, it has been the lot of South Carolina to be in the van of this great struggle for constitutional liberty. Virginia and North Carolina, in proportion to Mr. Chairman, I feel that I occupy a position of great their population, furnish a comparatively small amount and awful responsibility, which imposes it on me, as a of the exports upon which the protecting system directly sacred duty, to speak to that majority in the plain lan operates. Georgia has been engrossed in maintaining her guage of truth and candor. With those personal feelings rights in another contest with this Government; and the of kindness which I entertain for all, and of attachment people of the new States of the southwest, cultivating a for many of that majority, I will tender them the coun-fresh and fertile soil, recently acquired at the minimum sels and the admonitions of friendship. I now stand up- price, can as well afford to make cotton at 6 or 8 cents a before you, sir, as a witness, and I give testimony in the pound as those of South Carolina can at ten. They can ¿ presence of this assembly, and in the presence of that God sustain this oppressive system with comparatively little to whom we are responsible, that I conscientiously be- suffering when the older planting States will be utterly lieve, that, if this question be not adjusted during this ses-ruined. But they have too much sagacity not to see that sion, South Carolina will not submit to the tariff five when the tide of ruin shall have swept away the States months from the day of our adjournment. I beseech gen- which stand first in the march of the oppressor, they are tlemen, therefore, not in a spirit of menace, but of admo destined to be the next victims. nition, and more in sorrow than in anger," to pause for a moment and calculate the consequences which may possibly ensue. I will not permit myself to believe that finatters will ever reach the extremity of a dissolution of the Union. But as the gentleman from Massachusetts has presented some views to show how essentially the interests of the southern States are involved in the Union, I will briefly present some plain statements to show its value to the northern States. South Carolina, then, is fighting the common battle of She threw herself into the breach all the southern States as a forlorn hope, when all the auspices were against her, and, whatever may be the result of the contest, I cannot but regard her destiny as a happy and glorious one. Nothing elevates the character of a people to so high a poing as a disinterested struggle for liberty: and I do not believe there is at this moment a spot upon the face of the globe where the spirit of freedom is higher than in South CaroThe dissolution of the Union, come when it may, will lina. There is no vulgar ambition mingling in this con be a great and common calamity to us all, but it cannot troversy. In adverting to historical analogies, I have been be disguised that its effects would be widely different up-struck with the strong resemblance between the situation on the pecuniary prosperity of the south and of the north. of the southern States in this apparently unequal contest, In the event of a separation, the southern States would and that of the Grecian States which united to resist the have exports to at least the amount of forty millions, and Persian invasion. Ours, to be sure, is a civil struggle, not the immense commerce of which these would be the basis, to be waged with the vulgar implements of war, but by would exclusively pass through our southern cities. If the the sovereign, the legislative, and the judicial powers of existing rate of duties should be retained, those States the States. South Carolina is fully aware of the responwould, forthwith, have an annual revenue of sixteen mil-sibility she has assumed, and of the peril she must en-x lions of dollars, without any increase of their burthens; a counter; but no great object ean be accomplished without sam not only sufficient for all the ordinary purposes of great sacrifices. Had it not been for the heroic spirit of Government, but sufficient, in the various modes of ex- Leonidas and his immortal band, who devoted themselves penditure, to convert every decayed village into a flourish- at Thermopyle for the common cause of Greece, the ing town, and to cause the very waste and "blasted light of Grecian liberty might have been extinguished for An aver-ever, and the destiny of mankind entirely changed. And, heath" to flourish and "blossom as the rose." age duty of only 10 per cent. would yield a revenue of four I do confidently believe that if South Carolina fails in the millions; as large a revenue, in proportion to population, struggle she is now waging, the brief days of American as the northern States would derive from their whole liberty will be numbered. I have now concluded the remarks which I have deemed commerce under an average duty of 40 per cent. What would be the amount of the northern commerce? Cer-it my solemn duty to make on this great question. If, in tainly not more than twenty millions. With the same the heat of debate, and the excitement essentially berate of duty, the northern confederacy, with double the longing to the occasion, I have uttered any thing person ally offensive to any individual, I assure the committee judge for themselves, The Globe suppresses that nothing could have been farther from my intention. the facts, and gives false comment. Whatever may be the issue of this controversy, and what ever may be our respective destinies, I trust in God that As soon as we are relieved from the pressure our common inheritance, though it should be divided, will of more immediate and pressing engagements, never be destroyed; and that we shall always cherish the we will lay before our readers Mr. Clay's com fond recollections and the friendly feelings which so approprately belong to the common descendants of a glorious munication to the Globe, with a review of the acts in the case, for "truth is mighty and will revail." ancestry. EDITORIAL. We notice an article in the Freeman's BanBy an arrival at New York, we have news ner, a paper published in Baltimore, which from London twelve hours later than that says that General Duvall, of Florida, “stated brought by the Britannia, which justifies the publicly, that in a conversation with Mr. Calbelief that the King has recalled Lord Grey and houn, on the subject of a coalition with Mr. his late cabinet. It will be seen that our paper Clay, in the ensuing Presidential contest, Mr. is occupied by Mr. McDuffie's speech. The Calhoun had informed him that he never could intelligent reader, who feels an interest in unite with that gentleman, (Mr. Clay,) as he the Union and prosperiety of these States, considered him one of the greatest scoundrels and feel that they are indentified with the cause in the country." of liberty throughout the world, will want no As direct as this statement appears to be, apology for presenting it entire. It is as much there must be a mistake some where. That more interesting to the American public than Mr. Calhoun cannot unite with Mr. Clay, every any thing from abroad, as our own vital inter-one who knows him and his political sentiments, ests can be, when contrasted with that of other nations. Every southern man who feels a spark of patriotism, will persue it, and labor to make himself master of the truths which is exhibited in terms which have not been, cannot be controverted. We ask every patriot, in every section. to do the same. THE FRAUD. will readily admit. There are no two prominent men in the country, whose political principles and views of policy are more directly opposed, than his and those of Mr. Clay. The difference presents an insuperable barrier between them, politically-and this, no doubt, he may have expressed in conversation, but that he ever could so far forget what was due to himself or to Mr. Clay, as to apply the epithets which the above extract contains, all who know. Mr. Clay, of Alabama, has appeared in the him, will readily believe to be impossible. He Globe, as the expurgator of Major Lewis, and would be incapable of applying it to his bittergives a letter addressed to him by three of the est enemy, much less to one occupying Mr. Committee on Public Lands, stating that it was Clay's prominent position, and to whom he not their intention to impute fraud to the par- bears the relation, official and personal, which ties concerned. We were well apprised of he does to that gentleman. At no time, even Mr. Clay's disposition to screen all the parties in the midst of the highest party excitement implicated, and no one would have believed during the last canvass, was there a suspension that he intended to impute fraud. The ques- of their personal intercourse; nor have they, at tion is not whether the committee impute fraud, any time, re:used to treat each other with the but whether the facts warrant a belief that a courtesy due to gentlmen. fraud was intended. The committee were reCLAIMS OF VIRGINIA. quired to ascertain and report facts. They have done so; and although Mr. Clay did not vote in of the claims of the State of Virginia upon the The bill for the adjustment and liquidation favor of the report, he subscribed to the truth United States, has passed to a third reading in of the facts. These being admitted, we are as the House of Representatives, by a majority so competent to judge as Mr. Clay whether a fraud was intended. The public mind is not, final action upon it by Congress. We mention large as to warrant the opinion of a speedy and at the present moment, prepared to examine this for the information of the citizens of Virgithat subject deliberately, because it is more immediately occupied with the momentous ques- the act, in order that their claims may be put nia, and of others who may be claimants under tions of the tariff and the bank; but we will re-forward, as the necessary funds will of course view the report, and show that the facts admit-be in readiness to meet them when substantiated to be true, prove a deliberate intention to defraud the United States; and before we are ted. IS PRINTED AT done with the subject, we will bring to light THE UNITED STATES' TELEGRAPH some other facts, calculated to startle the good people even more than those which appear on the face of the report. TERMS: Washington City, upon the followng If the report was an acquittal from the charge of fraud, as the Globe pretends, why does not that venal print publish it? We venture to assert that it never will. No-it dare not lay the admitted facts before its readers. We lay the Weekly paper, admitted facts before our readers, that they may Payable in advance. 10 00 500 3.00 |