Newspaper Page Text
The following interesting correspon
dence we copy from tlie New Orleans
Courier
Donaldsonville, April 23,1843.
My Dear Sir:
When the interests of the south are in
danger; one naturally turns one’s eyes to
youwho have so long proved yourself to
be their vigilant, able and devoted guar
dian. It seems to me that tlie impending
crisis is fraught with as much and seri
ous mischiefs as could easily be brought
to bear on the prosperity of any people.
A fanatical war waged against our two
great staples, with a vindictive energy on
both sides of the ocean that has rarely
been equalled, should admonish us to
husband our resources, at all events to
a’-oid the danger of division. The cotton
and the sugar planter have a common
property to defend against the machina
tions of an artful, sagacious and bold en
emy. Under the guise of philanthropy,
he seeks to deprive us of that kind of la
bor, which he contributed more than any
oth-r to plant on our soil,and which long
habit, the character of our climate and
productions have rendered necessary to
us.
But they have too much art to attempt
by violence and openly, what his cunning
and knowledge has taught him may, if
he can deceive us, more effectually Ire ac
complished by indirection. It our pn>
ductions can be rendered unprofitable,his
object, he sees, will be accomplished.—•
Should the slave holders be also brought
into disrepute, his whole purpose will be
fully attained. A disreputable and un
profitable culture he knows will necessa-
rily be abandoned.
To tliis end have the British Sugar Is
lands been destroyed, and that product
sought to be transferred to the more genial
climate of India. Hence, also, the great
efforts to draw their supplies of cotton
from the same region. It would seem to
me questionable whether a plentiful and
cheap supply of sugar can be drawn from
thence,and still more so as to cotton. The
China war has given, it is true, to the cot
ton experiment an apparent success; but
this, probably, does not belong to it. A
rapid increase in the production of sugar
in Cuba and elsewhere, has prevented the
effects of tlie destruction of the British
Islands, from being as yet fully felt. But
this will soon be experienced by the sup
pression of the slave trade, effectually
checking any further extension, even if
it do not diminish the product. The su
gar interest may, and probably will be
prosperous, if not sacrificed by its own
government in the pending adjustment of
the Tariff.
Sugar growers are large consumers of
most of the articles of manufacture and
products on which the duty will fall, and
if they do not obtain a corresponding du
ty on their product when imported', it is
their settled conviction that this branch of
Southern agriculture must be abandoned.
Yoa know that this culture was not for
ced into existence by a protective tariff.
That it does not owe its being to any for
ced or fulse system, but was cherished by
a duty that was purely a revenue one.
Sugar has been a very fruitful source of
revenue to the government, although the
duty never has been a very heavy or
enormous- one. Having grown up by
the side of the wants of the Treasury, it
would seem hard that this interest should
be abandoned to its: fate, whilst others,
that sprang out of the false system of an
avowed protective tariff, should con
tinue to receive an ample protection. I
confess I never was an advocate, I never
can be, of a Protective Tariff, as such; but
have never been able to see tire impropri
ety of so adjusting the Tariff, as to-yield
such incidental protection to the great in
estsof the country, as could fairly and
honestly be given. But as ours is an ag
ricultural and Southern interest, unaided
by active agents, and having nothing to
enlist the sympathies of the Tariff side of
the house, we must be sacrificed, unless
those who are in principle and habit anti-
Tariff, will see thatequal justice be done-
us.
Strong as your feelings and principles
have always been against the protective
policy, I do not think that you ever con
tended that fair incidental protection was
either inexpedient or adverse to any sound
principle. But even if you were, you
could not, I think, fail to perceive that
when such favors were being dispensed,
the South would be entitled to a fair par
ticipation.
My great fear is, that the friends of free
iior will see in it a too favorable oppor
tunity to aim a fatal blow at the profitable
ness of slave labor, relying on your and
our friends genera! hostility to protection,
rendering you not unwilling spectators
of the move. Should they succeed in put
ting down the culture of sugar, the great
force now so employed, must necessarily
be employed in cultivating cotton ; prom
ising results on the price of that article,
much more immediate as well as perma
nent than the culture in India. We make
<h> an average 100,000 hhds. of sugar;
it is fair to say, that no more than from
three to four hogsheads per hand .are
made, which gives you the effective force
so employed* at say about 30,000. The
force employed on. tlie rich lands of the
Mississippi, would produce from 150 to
200,000 bales. As the increase of all the
negroes, not only those employed in cot
ton, but in all the slave holding States,
woulcLtlieuexclusively be thrown on that
crop, you will see how rapidly the cul
ture would be extended, as well as how
certainly the production would overtake
tha extreme point of consumption.
To me- it seems equally certain that if
success in India, be render
ed unproductive, the force that would
be drawn from it, to the culture of cane,
would soon iuvolve it in the same ruin.
T have no doubt that the entire consump
t ®>i of sugar, not more than half being
now made, could be furnished ; but not
profitably, till the suppression of the slave
be fully felt, except under the pro-
PlKLioa of a very heavy tariff. But even,
if the full consumption were supplied,this,
in the event of cotton being unprofitable,
would absorb but a very small part of the
slave labor. The inevitable consequences
would be over production, and the con
sequent depreciation in the value of that
species of labor.
To me it seems certain, that whether
cotton or sugar be first rendered valueless,
the sa.ne evil must soon follow the other.
If such be the fact, anything promising
that effect, will come powertully recom
mended to the Abolitionists. Success in
cultivating cotton in India, or the de
struction of the culture of sugar cane
here, would give them all they could de
sife.
In their wild zeal to accomplish their
object, it is not to be expected, that they
will pause to consider the injustice of
throwing this branch of industry open
to the destructive competition of the for
eign products, whilst they furnish them
selves with ample protection. No one
knows better than you, how blind fanat
icism is to all such considerations. It is
the more especially so, when stimulated
by interest, and emboldened by the pre
sumed weakness of the oppressed party.
On both sides of the Ocean, it has been
so often asserted that the South is too
weak to defend herself; and that, without
contradiction, that it may, and probably
will produce measures that might not
otherwise be thought of—is it not time
that it should l»e contradicted ? Unless it
be, our own people may come to believe
it. A slave population does not necessa
rily make a people weak. Wcdid not
show ourselves weak ill either of the wars
in which tlic country has been involved.
Neither reason nor experience warrants
the belief that slaves could more readily
bo turned against ail invading enemy. It
is in the nature of ignorant men, more
particularly of negroes, to be distrustful
of strangers. Without we have entirely
mistaken their feelings towards us, it is
surely ridiculous to suppose that they
would readily abandon those they have
known all their lives, in support of those
whom they had never seen. Should it
become our interest to use that kind of
power, we can hold out to them as strong
inducements as strangers; and might ren
der them very efficient, either in repelling
invasion, or redressing grievances. Per
haps no State could, in time of war, more
easily spare a part of its labor, certainly
none so promptly call It into action, as a
Slave State.
It would afford me great satisfaction to
have your views on topics which so deep
ly interest us all. Your time, I am’ well
aware, is very folly occupied ; and noth
ing but the deep importance belonging to
the subject could have induced me to in
trude 0:1 it, with these ili-digcsted re
marks, much less to have asked ttiO ben
efit of your opinions. 1 will barely au’J
the assurance of my great respect and
esteem.
ROBERT CARTER NICHOLAS.
Washington, 7th May, 1813.
My Dear Sir :
You do not state too strongly the dan
ger to which the South, and in fact the
whole country is exposed. Never, in my
opinion, has the country becrt in more
danger than at present. The administra
tion is powerless, and the Whigs infatua
ted ; and if the object was to ruin, in
stead of saving the country, it would be
scarcely possible to take a more effectual
way than that which has been pursued.
I concur in most of your views and
reflections on the identity of interest (fair
ly considered) between Cotton and Sugar;
and as far as my principles will admit,
WILL SEE FI LL JUSTICE DONE TO TIIE
LATTKir, TO THE EXTENT THAT IT CAN
BE EFFECTED BY MY EXERTIONS. I
can, however, agree to no duty but such
as the revenue may require ; and none so
high on any article as will push it be
yond the greatest AMOUNT OF REVEN
UE that can be uerived from the ar
ticle. These are the limits within which
I may act, and with them, exercise a sound
discretion. But in determining the a
mount of revenue required, I shall ex
pect economy and retrenchment, on the
part of those having the control, as far
as public policy may permit, and that no
part of the public reverine shall be given
away. Observing these rules, and with
the scope they will admit, I shall take
pleasure in PROTECTING your great
staple against the machinations of the
opponents of Slave labor. They are ev
er on the watch,, and stand ready to seize
every opportunity to render our labor
wortlrless, and to weaken our title to our
property. J. C. CALHOUN.
Correspondence of the New York Herald.
Vicksburg, Miss, June 7, 1843.
Assassination of Dr. Hagan State of
Society.
Ft is with the deepest regret that I in
form you of one of the most outrageous
murders that was ever perpetrated in
Vicksburg) this day, a few moments be
fore 3 o’clock, almost in the centre of our
city.
A young man aboi it twenty-seven years
of age, by the name of D. W. Adams, a
soil of Judge Adams, of Natchez, basely
assassinated l)r. Hagan* the Editor and
Proprietor of the Vicksburg Sentinel. An
editor, who is thoroughly and extensive
ly known as the defender of ti,e poor
man’s rights, the advocate of the rights of
the planters, mechanics and laboring men,
and against the notorious swindling
banks with all their satellites. The Doc
tor was one of the most quiet and unob
truding gentlemen we had amongst us,
and had a very large- circle of strong
friends. The facts are as fed lows : •
This assassin came from Jackson in
the morning cars, armed with three pis
tols, with premeditated determination to
cowardly murder him on sight, although
he took good care not to have it known,
until after the atrocious murder was com
mitted. He by enquiry was shown the
house where tlie doctor boarded, and
stood waiting to see him when he shoilld
come from his dinner, and the Doctor
not knowing him, he would seek some
pretence for killing him.
The doctor after a while made his fatal
appearance on the street, and noout one
half the distance (100 yards) from his
boarding house to his office, the villain
came up behind him unawares and
struck him with his cane. The doctor
turned round and caught hold of the as
sassin and threw him, although the doc
tor is a small man about 6 feet 4 or 6
inches high and weighs about 120 lbs.;
and the murderer is about 6 feet high
and will weigh 160 lbs. It appears his
intention was to let the doctor defend
himself as much as possible so that he
could have some pretence for shooting
him. I ought to have said murdering
him in cold blood. Whilst they were
down the murderer being underneath
pulling out his pistol the doctor attempted
to rise ; he caught the Dr. by the head
and held him down in such a manner
that he threw his arm with the pistol
over the doctor’s left shoulder and shot
him through the heart, and the doctor fell
a murdered man. Good God, how re
volting to the feelings of a civilized com
munity, and yet 1 have heard some of the
bankites say he ought to have been killed
long time ago. What would they not
see done to carry out their hellish purpo
ses. But so it is.
The planters, mechanics and laborers
have lost in him the strongest advocate
of their inalienable rights. Accompany
ing these few lines I send you the edito
rial for which the Doctor has been mur
dered.
There has been the greatest fraud per
petrated on the citizens of the State of
Mississippi, by a few head men of the
State, from th i Governor down, and Dr.
Hagan exposing them has been the se
cond victim (Col. Shelton first, by
drowning himself) caused by the im
becility of our Governor.
Although the doctor has been coward
ly and basely murderdd, I hope his chair
will bo filled by some fearless man, who
will deal out justice to the planters, &e.,
be defending them against their common
enemies, and brand the murderer and his
accomplices, whoever takes sides with
him, for the assassination of a peaceable
citizen, with eternal infamy and disgrace.
Truth.
TO THE PEOPLE OF THE U. STATES.
From the New York Plebeian.
REPEAL OF THE UNION BETWEEN
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
ct 'fn the Christian world there never was a people
so 0111611/ treated as the Irish.'*— O'ConndTß Ireland.
Such is the conclusion arrived at by
one of Ireland’s ablest advocates and tru
est patriots ; and such, we believe is that
which will be drawn by any impartial
reaufor of Irish history. Nearly seven
hundred ve.nrs have rolled away since
the shores oi Ireland were visited by
Euglish invaders,’ to commence the
work of plunder, devastate 11 and mur
der. And at the end of this involution
of ages, we find Ireland unconqucred,
the races unassimilated or unincorpora
ted. History does not ad'ord another ex
ample. Extraordinary indeed must be
the |>o\vers of repulsion between two na
tions planted by the hand of nature so
contiguous to each other, so long enjoy
ing the same government and laws, and
nearly the same climate and soil, with
out complete identification. .
Wonderful, moreover, to reflect, that
at various times during this period, the
stronger of the two aimed at nothing less
than the total extinction of the weaker;
not only without success, but with man
ifest disadvantage to herself and with re
novated powers in the injured. Yea,
the weaker, has almost invariably come
forth from the conflict more vigorous,
more compact, less vulnerable, and with
greater powers es indurance. Such is
the vitality of the Irish branch of the
Celtic race ; although so long exposed
to a series of the most ruthless persecu
tion, the most extensive system of plun
der, and the most cold blooded butche
ries that ever the pages of histo
ry. Ur >m the first landing of the Eng
lish in 1172 to the present day, the ad
ministration of the affairs of Ireland has
been, with few and forced exceptions,
wicked in its enactment, barbarous in
its tendency, torturous in its policy, and
cruel in its operation. A more detesta
ble code of legislation never was enact
ed for the persecution of a people.—From
beginning to end, it is one immense
mass of turpitude and crime. For the
abrogation of tins enormous collection
ot legislative wickedness the Union must
be repealed. Every friend of justice
must desire this consummation.
The invasion of Ireland was first
prompted by the grasping ambition of the
unscrupulous Henry 11. on pretexts as
weak as they were wicked ; the invita
tion of the traitor McMorrogh, King of
Leinster, who had been banished for his
crimes; and the grant of Pope Adrian,
who undertook in accordance with usa
ges of these times, to hand over Ireland
to- his virtuous countrymen, for her bet
ter government and greater improvement.
Armed with Pontificial authority, en
couraged by traitorous submission, and
supported by English- gold scattered a
mong rival chieftains, Henry landed in
Ireland-; and at once proceeded to give
the Irish a specimen of Norman justice,
by “ cantonizing the whole island among
ten of his needy followers, leaving noth
ing for the natives ! !!” although the
Euglish power was not extended univer
sully over Ireland for 500 years after
wards! In the reign of their successor,
John Snnsterre* Giraldus Cambrensis,
who accompanied the English Court to
Ireland, as historian, first laid down the
axiom—that “the only way to civilize
the kingdom, was to murder all tlie peo
ple and take their property !”
Never was an axiom more fully or
more flagitiously acted upon. It was in
fearful operation during the respective
lines of the Plnrltagenets the Tudors,
the Stuarts, and the first three of the
Guelphs ; confiscation, plunder, robbery,
domestic treachery, violation of public
treaties, deliberately planned famines,
wholesale slaughter, eoneerted massa
c:es, followed each other with destruct
ive certainty and fearful fnpidity; accor
ding as the cruelty or cupidity of the
conquerors suggested. No page of Irish
history is unstained with English crime.
Such is the manner in which England
has ruled Ireland for revolving centuries.
It is to put an end forever to an atrocious
system of misrule like this, that the Uni
on should be repealed.
It cannot tie too often brought before
the American people, that in the same
proportion as England is prosperous and
powerful, so does she most cruelly op
press ami persecute the Irish people;
and so often as England is weak, em
barrassed or humbled, so often does she
relax her ruthless grasp to allow her
victim a slight respite ; until again em
boldened by success she resumes the of
fice of the executioner.
Although the successftil resistance of
America in 1776, the terrific French re
volution in 1793, and the untiring exer
tions of O’Connell for the last 40 years,
has extorted concession after concession
from British tyranny, still are the peo
ple of Ireland held in thraldom, wretch
edness and misery ; oppressed arfd
ground to the earth by the onerous sup
port of a hated Church Establishment,
exorbitant rack rents, burdensome taxes,
want of trade or employment, ruined
commerce, decayed manufactures, harsh
and unequal laws, wide-spread pauper
ism, unparalleled under any government
calling itself Christian. One fact may
elucidate the sad detail of woe. Out of
a population of nine millions, there are a
|>opulation of two millions and a half of
paupers or beggars, subsisting on alms !
more than one out of every four of the
whole kingdom —a beggar ! What a
comment on English domination.- It is
to remedy this horrible state of things that
the Irish people demand a repeal of the
execrated Union.
If nations, like individuals, must expect
a day of retribution, assuredly the fitfur
of England’s accountability will be, like
that of Babylon drunk with the blood of
nations, most fearful. Look at her rob
beries, spoliations, and murders for the
last century in Hindoostan ; at her recent
marauding expeditions and massacres in
Afghanistan, in China, in Scinde. But
beyond all and above all, look at her hor
rible acts of treachery, her hideous mur
ders, her wholesale robberies, her shock
ing and deliberately created famines
practised and perpetrated in Ireland—<
not for 5, 16, 20, 50, or 100 years, but
with slight intermissions, for nearly 700
years ! It is scarcely possible for the im
agination to conceive or words to de
scribe the horrors of this dark and dreary
period.
(tne item of the dismal catalogue, and
probably productive of a greater amount
of Irish misery than' arry other, is tlie
wasting and ruinous annual drain of re-
I yenue, absentee rents and transit duties
opt of Ireland. By parliamentary and
othei' documents, it is ascertained, that
England id this manner draws from Ire
land every yea. r ; the immense sum of
forty-five millions oi dollars! or four
.hundred and fifty millions every ten
years ! Could any country in the world
endure so stupendous a robbery with
out irretrievable ruin, degradation and
wretchedness ! It is to remedy this en
ormous evil, the plundered and oppres
sed Irish seek a Repeal of the Union.
Nothing can lie more just than the
claims of the Irish people. They ask
for nothing inconsistent with reason
contrary to the dictates of honor, of
humanity—or at all injurious to the pre
rogatives of a parental government;
they merely ask an inalienable right, the
right to govern themselves ; they ask for
the restoration of their native govern
ment, who can legislate fitly, seasona
bly and undeistandiugly, for Ireland:
who will foster trade and commerce,
promote manufactures, cherish science
and art, encourage agriculture by secu
ring Fixity of tenure, and abolishing the
Tithe Rent-charge ; who will extend the
franchise, rural and urban ; restrain the
Grand Jury Cess, give employment to
the starving millions, with peace, plen
ty, prosperity, equality, freedom and hap
piness to all without distinction of caste
or creed.
The Repealers of Ireland seek no as
cendancy, but they will brook no infe
riority— they insist on equality. They
wish-no disseverance or dismemberment
of the empire ; they are most anxious to
preserve the connection withs England,
but on a fair equitable footing of perfect
equality, civil and religious. They ac
knowledge the sovereign of the British
Empire as the sovereign of Ireland, but
they must have their own domestic par
liament, the making of their own laws,
the enjoyment of their own revenues,
their own industry ; and like the immor
tal patriots of ’76, they “will not be tax
ed without their own consent.”
Who would not wish success to a
cause so holy, so righteous, and so pa
triotic. ! Is there any American citizen,
native or adopted who would not enlist
all his sympathies, his energies, his heart
and purse* in behalf of oppressed hu
manity? In this glorious contest of
right against might, who would not
cheerfully “ pledge his life, his fortune*
and his sacred honor.” S arsfi eld.
Coleridge’s Pr -aching.
It was in January 1798, that I rose one
morning before daylightto walk ten miles
jn the mud, to hear this celebrated person
preach. Wlren I got there, the organ
was playing'the 100th psalm, nild when
it was done; Mr. Coleridge rose and gave
out Iris text, “And he went up into the
mountains to pray, Himself alone.” As
he gave out his text, his voice “rose like
a stream of rich distilled perfumes and
when he came to the last two words,
which he pronounced loud, deep and dis
tinct, it seemed to me, who was then
young, as if the Sounds had echoed fro*n
the bottom of the human heart, and as if
that prayer might have floated in solemn
silenfce through the universe. The idea
of St. John came into my mind, “of one
crying in the wilderness, who had his
loins girt about, and whose food xvas lo
custs, and wild honey.” The preacher
then launched into his subject like an ea
gle dallying with the wind. * * * And
for myself I could not have been more
delighted if I had heard the music of the
spheres. Poetry and Philosophy had met
together. Truth and Genius had embra
ced under the eye and with the sanction
of Religion. This was even beyond my
hopes. I returned home well satisfied.
The sun that Was still laboring pale and
wan through the sky, obscured by thick
mists, seemed an emblem of the great
cause; and the cold, dank drops of dew,
that hung half melted on the beard of the
thistle, had something genial and refresh
ing in them; for there was a spirit of
hope and youth in all nature that turned
eveiy thing into good.— Hazlitt.
From the Charleston Mercury.
Death of Mr. Legare.
The news of this event, most sudden
and unlooked for, reached here on Satur
day, and filled the city with gloom.—
Groups of men gathered around the an
nouncement, throughout the day, re;*]
and walked away sadly as if each one felt
a sense of bereavement. It is indeed a
loss to South Carolina —one of her most
gifted sons is taken from her —one of her
brightest lights is quenched forever. It
is, too, an addition to the causes of grief,
that he had just attained that high posi
tion where all the great qualities and glo
rious culture of his mind might expand
their wing and take their flight over the
gaze of the world.- Alas, that station has
crumbled under his first step —that proud
wing- is folded in the grave. How resist
less! y, comes up the thought, those strong
words of Milton:
Fame i* 'he spur lhat the clear spirit doth raise
(That last infirmity of noble minds)
To ecorn delights an I live laborious days :
But the fair guerdon when we hope to firs'l,
And think to burst out into sudden blaze,
Comes the blind Fury with >he abhorieut thoars
And slits the thiti-.-pan life.
Mr. Legare left Washington on last
Tuesday a week, in apparently perfect
health and excellent spirits. There was
truly something inspiring to a soul
like his, in the thought of witnessing that
mighty gathering of the American people
to give the crowning glory to a noble
memorial of the First Day of the Revolu
tion. He did not witness it—the trium
phal inarch of the multitude that day
came to his car dimly through walls of a
! sick chamber. He arrived in Boston on
Friday, the day before the celebration,
and received the visits of his friends at
tile Tremomt House. At 1 o’clock on Sat
urday morning he was seized with a vio
lent attack of bilious cholic, a complaint
to which he had been occasionally subject
ever since he went to Washington, but
which had always readily yielded to med
ical treatment. Dr. Thomas, who accom
ied the President, was instantly called in
and prescribed for him, but without effect.
He gradually grew worse, and on Sunday
afternoon was removed from the Tremont
to the house of his friend Mr. Tick nor.
Additional medical aid was called in, but
the disease was beyond the reach of hu
man remedy. His sickness only lasted
about 78 hours, and in the early stage of
it he suffered greatly, but towards the
close he became entirely free from pain.
His mind was calm and clear to the last,
and so gentle and peaceful was the part
ing of spirit and body, that Mr. Ticknor,
in whose arms he died, did not perceive
the change, till the physician touched
him and whispered “he is dead. ’
So died Hugh Swinton Legare. It is
of little consequence to his memory to
enumerate the places he has filled ; for it
may be safely said of him, that never
in his life, till near the close of it, did lie
hold a plaee equal to his acknowledged
abilities —and if it be inded true that
Congress affords scope for the greatest
minds, still, the rude contentions, the low
lived strife, the everlasting storm of per
sonal abuse, the triumphant tramping of
blockheadism over sense, learning, elo
quence and liberal discussion, made the
House of Representatives the last place
in the world for the display of the pow
ers of a fastidious scholar like Legare.
But though he had never held an office
that afforded room for the play of his
mind, his great talents and consummate
learning were known and appreciated,
and his appointment to the Cabinet was
hailed with lively satisfaction by the
whole country —it was felt that at last
he had gained his position, and that .a bril
liant and noble fame lay before him,
glowing with fair promise for liimselfand
for his country. How much died there,
when he breathed his last!
Mr. Legare was a native of Charleston,
born we believe in 1796. He graduated
at the South Carolina College, where he
stood, longo intervallo, first in his class
in all departments —and was pronoun
ced even then by Dr. Maxcy (himself a
man of profound learning and abilities)
to be die first mind he had ever met. He
had even then that most extraoi dinary
power of application which enabled him
to drive away sleep, night after night, in
the elucidating and mastering any subject
on which lie had set his mind. And this
power, and the unsparing use he made of
it through life, was the secret of that won
drous treasure house of learniug, that
made him, among the living scholars of
oureountry, perhaps the very first. Mr.
Legare completed his education in Ger
many,and retained through life the warm
est affection for the language and litera
ture of that land of scholars.
His after career is familiar to the minds |
of all, and in the fresh remembrance of |
his varied talents, his splendid eloquence
his profound learning, of all which he
had done and the still higher achieve
ments that seemed to cluster so brightly
before him, we start back as the shadow
of death drops sharp across the view, and
what seemed a triumphal procession
darkens into a funeral train—death swal
lows up all else, and we can only honor
him with mourning, whom we had
thought to honoT with praise and joy
ous congratulation.
We have formed many conjectures
about the plan proposed by Mr. Webster,
for the purpose of placing the commercial
relations of this country with foreign na
tions on a more permanent footing than
they are at present. He says that this
object is attainable by negotiating and
concluding reciprocity treaties. At the
first view of the subject we did not per
ceive any material objection to the pro
posed plan, only it seemed to iis that the
president and the Senate would assume
a power which, though constitutionally
granted, appertains to Congress. But on
reflecting further on the subject, and on
taking into consideration passing everits 1
and circumstances connected with the"
tariff question, wc have arrived at the
conclusion, that there is more meant by
the plan proposed by Mr. Webster than*
we had at first supposed. Until the pres
ent time the people of the United States
were nearly divided on the question of ar
protective tariff and free trade. It is now
otherwise. In the Western States, where'
the protective ptfliCy btfd in its favor af
majority of the people, a larger majority
is now found arrayed against it, and in
favor of free trade. In the New England
States, where the influence of the manu
facturing interest was most felt, there has
been recently a material change in favor'
of free t rade, c\’en among those most in
terested in manufactures. These circum
stances, taken together with the expected
complexion of the next Congress, indi
cate the progress of a radical change in
the policy of the government, in regard
to the protective system. The frie: ds of
this system apprehend, and justly too, the
abandonment of restriction and prohibi
tion in trade, and the modification of the
present tariff so as to exclude from it all
its protective features, and to make it one
for revenue only. It is presumed that
such a modification is inevitable, consid
ering the support it will receive from
quarters of the Union hitherto the stren
uous supporters of the protective policy.
If then the adoption of a more liberal
and impartial policy, in regard to a tariff
is inevitable, are we not warranted in the
supposition, that (lie friends of protection
will resort to any measure in order to
counteract the action of Congress on the
subject, and to maintain some features of
protection, if they cannot maintain all
that the present tariff affords? As pro
tection cannot he maintained by the action
of Congress, cannot protection be effected
by reciprocity treaties, concluded in all
the forms of the Constitution? Treaties
concluded in all the forms of the Consti
tution become the laws of the land. So
that what could not be attained by the
legislative action of Congress, may be
accomplished by treaties. By means of
treaties, protection to manufactures may
be extended and insured* which a large
majority of one branch of the national
legislature had expressed themselves a
gainst. Mr. Webster may not have had
in view the attainment of protection by
indirect means, which he is now well
convinced cannot be effected by the di
rect legislation of Congress; hut we
must confess that (he events of 1832 and
1833, have created in our minds appre
hensions of a resort to means to keep up
the protective policy, which it will be the
duty of tire friends of free trade to tm-
mask and oppose. The “• Compromise
Law” was introduced and passed, because*
as Mr. Clay explicitly declared at the
time, a high tariff could not stand one
year longer; it was to save the protective
policy that the Compromise Avas adopted-
U e are now all convinced that, had. not
the Compromise been adopted, the high
tariff then in force, would not have re
mained one year longer the law of the
land. Tlie present high tariff stands in
the same situation, with a larger number
of opponents to it than there were oppo
nents to the tariff which was abrogated
,by the Compromise Act. We have made
i these few remarks for the purpose of awa
kening public attention to the schemes
that may be devised to elude the remod
' del ling of the present protective tariff, by
itreaties with Great Britain and other for
eign nations. We must add, however*
that it is with gratification we find the
protective policy becoming the subject of
discussion and investigation hi the north*
especially in Massachusetts. Intelligent
citizens who, hitherto, had implicit faith
in the wisdom and beneficial effects of
the protective policy, now entertain seri
ous doubts about it. In the Western*
States a decided hostility is rising lip'
against the present tariff, and we are sure
that a large majority of the members of
Congress from that section of the Union*
will be found arrayed at the nextsession*
against a system which, has been felt by
all classes of the community to be so in
jurious to the various interests of the
country; and we are sure also, that all
interests will unite in constructing a tar
iff, so as to derive from it sufficient reve
nue for the Government,, while it will
guard from injury any section of the Un
ion. It is time for tlie peace and harmo
ny of the country, that we s-hould be
blessed with such a tariff; it is time tliatt
such a subject should cease to produce
agitation’and discord among us.
At Framingham, (Mass.) Philip D.
Edmonds, of Lowell, to Miss Susan Har
ris t Willis. Also, Thomas S. Edmonds,
of Lowell, to Miss Harriet Susan Willis.
The bridegrooms were twin brothers andi
the brides twin sisters.