About Georgia telegraph. (Macon, Ga.) 1844-1858 | View Entire Issue (July 9, 1844)
fc2S*KSU2S2ae» KB. CHAPPELL'S LETTER. WaHIXGTON, June i7, 1844. GENTLtKCS : I have had the honor to receive your letter of the 26:b ultimo, informing me ofyour appointment to re present the county of Bibb iu a convention of delegates from the several counties compiling the third congressional dis trict, soor. to oe holden at Forsyth, for the purpose Of nom inating a candidate, in behalf of tlto Whig party of the dis trict, for the next congressional alection. You inform me, farther, of yonr desire to ptefer my name to the convention before all others, b it that you deem it due, as well to my self aa to the party whose confidence 1 have ever had, to state that "my late address to the people of Georgia, to gether with my votes on one or more important public ques tions, have created some difference nf*opinion as to my views in relation to the leading measures of Whig policy, and my feelings towards tha Whig candidate for the Pre sidency ; and, therefore, in order to be enabled better and more satisfactorily to discharge the trnst reposed in you aa delegates, yoa ask to be placed in possession of my views in answer to the following questions: "Whether, or not, I ain favorable— "1st. To a tariff raised for the purpose of revenue, and affording an incidents!protection to llie different branch es of American indnstry. "2d. To a national bank, affording a sound cnrrency of uniform value. "2d. To a distribution of the proceeds of the sties of the public lands among the States on just and liberal terms. "4ib. To a restriction of the veto power. "5th. To a limitation of the Presidential service to one term. "4th. To the election of Henry Clay to the Presidency." Before entering upon a reply to your letter, gentlemen, I cannot refrain from expressing my thanks for tlie kind and considerate feelings towards me, personally and politically, which yoa manifest. Under any circnmstan.tcs, such mani festations would have produced a deep impression; un der those which actually exist, they are peculiarly grateful; end the time will never come, I assure you. when they will case to be remembered and properly appieciated by me. You are doubtless aware, gentlemen, and therefore need not now be informed by me. that your letter is, by means, the first nr the strongest evidence I have received of the dissatisfaction which has, for a considerable time, prevailed among my Whig friends in regard to my course in Congress. It it only one among a multitude of proofs of that kind, which have been reaching ine for months past Indeed, the very opening of the session wts signalized tc me by finding myself in opposition to the entire vVhig par ly in the House on a great question, and by the subsequent discovery that this opposition was deemed worthy of severe censure by a portion of the party at home, and by nearly all was viewed as waiter of aerious regret. I confess to you. gentlemen. I was deeply struck with the very peculiar character of this censure. Knowing, as I did, that my friends generally were inclined to differ with me on the question of tha constitutional validity of my election, I should have fell little surprise if many among them had thought and aaid I was censurable for taking a seat to which, in their opinion. I had no title whatever. Hut the censure against me went not upon that grnuud. Not at all. I waa arraigned, not for the crime uf taking an oath and seat as Representative in Congress when I had no title as such but’for the crime of refusing to deny, by my vote, my title to the seat which 1 had thus taken and occupied by the sanc tion of an path. It was extremely apparent, that if I had disbelieved in tny right to a seat, but had nevertheless tak en it and enjoyed its privileges, and exercised the functions, and bad then voted against the constitutionality of my ten ure, but still continued to cling to it, and enjoy it in fact, all would have been fair weather and smiles between me be my political friends on the election question. But it was my misfortune to believe in my right to the seat to which they had elected me; and I acted, spoke, and voted in accordance with that belief, and hence fell under condemnation. I beg to be understood aa not adverting to this subject with any view of coinplsining ; for, notwithstanding the censure and regret at my course, to which I hare alluded, as having been at first fell by my friends, they afterwards generally exhibited towards me abundant kindness and confidence. Tim only reason, therefore, why I have ad verted to the subject now. it, that it is one among a num ber of circumstances going t° show the strictness and jeal ousy with which the Whig party in Georgia are getting dis posed to tie down their Itepresen alive* to vote and act with the Whig party in Congress on important questions of contiituiinnal power and public policy. This disposition is doubly evinced, as well by what has been approved in oth ers, aa by what has been disapproved in myself during the present session. And it is a disposition which, whatever else may be thought in regard to it, cannot be denied to be the opening of a new and most important era in southern politic*. Having been thus warned of the peril I should probably incur at homely daring to vote against the congressional Whig party on any question on which they should choose to rally as a party, I soon saw another trial ahead of me, between my clear* sense of duty and this party lequirement of voting with the Whigs. I allude now to the tariff ques tion ; the question on which, above all others, 1 should have aupppoied that a southern Representative should have been safe with his constituents in resisting the behests of any national or congressional parly whatever, which sets op the protective policy-as a cardinal point in its creed.— But. having dwelt so amply on this subject of the tariff in my late address, which you have done me the honor to no tice. I should ba inexcusable to detain yon at much length on it at this time. There are some things, however, which my opportunities here have compelled me to know, and which it is proper to mention to you. In the first place. I soon perceived that no opponent of tie protective policy could expect to be recognized by tha Whig party in Congress as a sound, orthodox, true-hearted Whig. That policy was d'ltitictly proclaimed at the g'eat paramount question with the parry. The imposing of taxes on the whole country for the benefit of the protected inte rests, was their darling measure Whoever would con cur with them in that—whoever would support and nbet them in their system of legalized robbery of the people— might hope, and not hope in vain, to be tolerated in differ ing with them on other questions. Bat whoever ventured to thwart or resist them in that, was not to be forgiven, or deemed worthy of fraternal welcome in the great Whig brotherhood. This temper and determination on the part of the Whig party grew out of two causes or motives—lat, ont of that deliberate policy of using the taxing power of the Govern ment aa an engine of individual enrichment and sectional aggrandizement, which is the very root of the whole pro tective system; 2dly, oat of their anxious desire to appro priate the pmtertive tariff system exclusively to their own use, as an electioneering argument or lever in those sections of the Union in which devotion to the syatera is believed to be the predominating political sentiment. The danger which they wished to obviate in these sectinna waa, that of being rivalled or paralyzed in the use of this weapeon by the successful assertion,' on the part of the Democrats, that the Whigs, as well as themselves, were a divided party on the subject of protection. If this impression could be piodueed by the Democrats, it it manifest that the Whigs would have very little advantage over them in making par- X capital out of the tariff But the Whip were, anu are itennined to have such advantage; ana to have ilia the most deciaive and overwhelming manner. They hope to carry, by means ofit, the great Slates of New York and Pennsylvania; and by coupling with it the douceur of work* of internal improvement by the General Gevernment. and a distribution of the proceeds of the sale* of the public lands, they hope also to secure some ether doubtful and strongly contested rotates. Ilence.it was a point of great importance in their party tactics and electioneering strategy, for them to be able to cry aloud to the people of the north, "Beh dd the mighty schism which reigns in the Democratic pirty on the subject of protection, and compare it with ihe perler^harraony and entire agreement in favor of protec tion which characterize the Whig party throughout the Union; andcbooae ye on which of the two parties you can best rely for maintaining that protective policy which it so dr ar and paramount an object with you.” Such is the pow erful appeal and comparison which it waa, and is- their de- sir* to bo able t-> present to the protected interests, and their connected iuffuence*. everywhere. They are pre senting it most earnea’Iy on the floor of Congress, through the press, and ou the stump, everywhere in the north and west. But, before they could successfully and 'ruty do so, it was necessity it should be well undei stood that no such contumacious anti-protectionist as myself wss regarded by tha party as a genuine Whig Yes. gentlemen 1 So it is! And from Waihin-mncity u> Passainaqooddy, if not to the extremities of the Union in every other direction, a man opposed to a tariff for protection i* summarily scouted out of the immaculate Whig church, as if he were the enemy of the republican farm of Government. Such a min might be permitted to vote for Whig*, and iu that way approach their shrine aa an hamhle aacrifieer of his opinions. But tiie Whig that would »ote for him would be denounced ami -damned without hesitation or ceremony. Nothiug appeared to me more obvious than that this sys tem of ttciics for the Presidential canvass of 1844, it it •hould receive the concurrence of the southern W lug repre- ■tentative* and politicians, waa Calculated to draw the whole Whig pam of the South from their old ground on the sub ject of the tariff' and enlist them hi the support and advo- cacy of the proteitive policy It wt* equally obvious, that, io nneheveut, any individual Whig representative, who should suad out against the general movement, would pro bably find himaeff involved « piinM difficulty and nuaun- demanding with bis friend* *t home. I saw this fute awaiting myself. But I waa not fall long to anticipation and conjecture. Through the Whig press of Georgia, through my correspondence wilh friends, and other most authentic aueans of intelligence. I waa soon made to know that, al .though the Whig party, general^, had come to t 1 - •elusion to overlook kindly my differing with them Gentlemen, it is true lam, iudeed, opposed tithe lead ing measures and general politics ot tiie great n atonal Whig party. And I have no hesitation in declaring it uiy Opinion that the leading measures and principles ol the party, as exhibited in Congiess and throughout that* quarter of the Union from whence emanate all the Whig law and doc trines now-adays, arc such as deserve the especial hostili ty of southern men. This hostility on my part is boldly and distinctly avowed in my late address to the people of Georgia. In that address I travelled ont of the subject which par ticularly prompted ihe writing of it, in order to make this avowal; because I felt it to be due to the prople—especi ally those of the third Congressional district—that they should know that I anticipated from the Whig party, in the event of ns coming into power, such principles and policy in the administration of the Government as I should feel bound to oppose. I cannot now doubt tint, in that ad dress. I made myself clearly understood io that effect. Tbe call, however, which you have now made on me, ana to which it affords me great satisfaction to respond, amounts to requiring ol me to enter into a full specification of the grounds of my opposition—a task which I shall endeavor to perform with the greatest brevity and distiactneas in my power. To this end, I beg to present, at the outset, that view which, to my mind, furnishes the true solution of the mark ed difference which hat ever distinguished tbe north from the south, aa well in the constitutional politics, as in the general maxima of legislative policy mainly held and advo cated by the two sections- It is notorious that tbe north has been habitually characterized, as compared with tbe south, by greater latitude of opinion as to the extent of the powers of the General Government, and as to the purposes for which those powers should be exercised. What has given rise to this difference, which is as strongly marked in the two sections as the grest features of Nature herself? The answer is at hand. It is to be found in tbe fact that the north, aa compared with the south, is, and feels conscious that she must always be, the stronger section. She feels, consequently, that the General Government, to a very great extent, belongs loher; that she can wield it as she lists; that it ia a machine in her own hands, and under her own co-itrol. She know* that her power in its councils and over its action must always be sncli as not only to enable her to prevent it from injuring and oppressing her by its measures, but such as to enable her to cause its measures to be of tnch a character as will be positively subservient to her Interests and grandeur. Hence the north naturally inclines to favor tbe enlargement of the powers uf a ma chine which her superior strength in tiie confederacy ren ders her substantially the mistress and beneficiary. Hence, too. the people of tbe north have been little accustomed to feci dread from the stretching of tbe powers or tbe increas due'ry,” anil what is the consequence ? Our rights, our safety, and interests are in the hands -fothers; aud those otbeis, a people distant from ns, little identified, and still less sympathizing with us, and who lie under the strongest teinpiatiom that can art upon poor human nature to employ this taxing power as nn engine for enriching, strengthening, and uggranuiziug themselves. It is impossible to deny that the Whig paay in Congress and the country is a party ral lying and acting, with fearful unanimity and energy. avow edly upon the ground of giving this dangerous despotic di rection to the exercise of the taxing power. The tariff of 1842, their most cherished measure, is the legislative embodiment, the practical enforcement and re alization of that branch of the policy of the stronger section of tbe confederacy, which goes upon the principle of using tbe power of taxation for the substantive tad direct purpose of fostering the interests and increasing tbe emoluments of individuals iu their private pursuits and pecuniary invest ments It is a tariff, such as the protectionists themselves demanded and obtained from the last Congress, restoring the protective system upon the ruins of the compromise. Such is the true character ol the tariff of 1842; and those who attempt to soften it down by kiudly phrases into a "tar iff tor revenue, with incidental protection to tbe different branches of American industry,” do but cheat themselves with words, and lose sight of the hard substance and resli- ity of thiugs. But euotigh of the protective tariff system. We come next to iu twin brother and inseparable companion—the system of internal improvements by the General Govern ment—another leading measure of Whig policy. The pre sent Congress has passed two bills of this character, involv ing appropriations of ibeut balfa million of dollars each, for the improvement of rivers and harbors. One of these hills —tost for the eastern rivers and harbors, has been defeat ed by the President's veto ; whilst the other—that for the western rivers and harbors, baa, rather inconsistently, re ceived Itts sanction. The whole of tbe southern Whigs have nnt yet surren dered their old southern principles nn this subject. Those from North Carolina, and some others, voted with me against these bills. With these exceptions, the Whigs iu tne House appear, by their votes, as uuanimous for the expenditure of money lor these objects, as they are for im posing duties for protection. Many of the northern and western Democrats vote with tbe Whigs in favor of ol these appropriations; for, like the protective tariff sys tem, which tuxes the whole country for the benefit of the protected interests, the internal improvement system, which takes money railed by taxation from the ‘whole country, and applies it to local purposes, is strong enough to set all party lines at defiance in ilia stronger section of tbe Union. It is not unfiequemly matter ofcompeiiiion be tween thn Whig and Democratic members from that re •»»« iaswas tr-WfiSsKtS' i “““ cannot be doubted, are the consideration* that mainly con frol all tbe Whig party, and a great many Democrats, a- gainst annexation, everywhere north of Mason and DixotCs line. Tbe distribution policy, as compared with the system of internal improvement and a protective tar ff. undoubtedly possesses one great merit—that of greater equality of oper ation. But, at the some time, it is a policy, than which no thing can tend more strongly to emasculate, degrade, and denationalize, aa it wlrre, the States; for no Government can lay claim to dignity, stiength, or independence, which, instead of relying on itself and its own laws end action for income, leans ou another Government for its supplies. Pe cuniary dependence, either in individuals or States, is. when it comes to be a system, or habit of life, a most debasing and enslaving influence. But there is another objectionable aspect in which distri bution forces itself on our examination. With all the ed action of the General Government. And why T Be- gion. which shall go farthest and do the most in thn way of cause they well know that, under every extension cf its j getting the public money applied to these objects. Could powers, and every multiplication of its objects, it must still | you witness tbe warmth and fierceness with which they remain tbe slave and instrument of their will and interests struggle for these appropriations, you would at once per ceive how clearly the whole system t* in ail its operation*. The south, on the other hand, is deeply conscious that the prec'se reverse is the case with her. She feels and knows that she is the weaker section; that she is, and is doomed to remain, a sectional minority in the councils of the General Government; it is a machine not belonging to her, but to others ; which is not in her hands and control, but in the hands and control of others distant from her, having views and interests widely different in many re spects from hers; and inclined, by all the principles and passions inherent in human nature, to consult their own views aud interests, and not hers, in the direction which they give to the Government. Hence the south feels that her liberty & salvation depend upon jealously confining the Government within its constitutional sphere, by a rigid con struction of its powers, and of the objects to which those powers shall be applied. Theclue which I have now presented, nnfolds also the grounds of still another difference in the constitutional poli tics of the two sections. The sooth, feeling herself to be the weaker section, as represented and participating in the ' _ o r o General Government, is naturally averse to permitting that the abode of the protected interests nor the theatre of fede- G.ivermnot to bo tli. sole and ultimato arbiter of the rx* ra! expenditure for internal improvements, has been hereto- lent of iu powers over ber, under the constitution. She fore, and is destined still to be, the uncompensated victim deserves the title of a money-lure and money-engine in the hands of the Govern meat, or of those who rule or are seeking to rule it. Yes, gentlemen, it is a system by which the sectional majority majority of this Union, as represented in the Government, will forever prostitute tbe uxing power to local and sec tional public works and improvement!. And throughout the north and west, no political party could maintain itself that should take a atand in opposition to this policy. These bills are usually passed by concert and combination among the members from those sections—in oilier words, by what is called "the log-rolling system.'' They frequently contain some very proper and unobjectionable appropriations; bat then they are loaded down with others at war wilh the onn- stitQiion and a wise and just policy. Heace the habit of soutitern men baa heretofore been to set their faces against the whole system. The design and effect of the system is to pioduce an inducement for supporting a lush tariff to those portions of the north and west whi?‘ a are not suffi ciently interested in the potectivc policy to do so on that account. The great cotton-growing region, being neither tbe con •elusion tm overlook kibdly wy differing with them on the election question, yet I was not to expect a repetition of this friendly tsfarxnce if I presumed to ffy in the face o. the Whig party in ihe House on ibe tariff question also.— Under these cfrcunixunoes, I was led to ponder well upon my position, and tbe obligations growing oat “ i ‘ appeared io me-exceedingly clear mat it was duty to myself and to the people of Georgia,-to lake my stand m the breach, and abide the hazard of being swept down and earned to the bottom by that swelling udo «f high-tariff politics .md l.litudinnua principles, which rushing from the north, were selling in full volume upon the miu.1i, threatening m over whelm aud devastate nil those great landmarks of policy and the constitution on which **c have ever deemed ou safety. rich:*, and interests to defend. ^ _ Having token this *iand, all my anticipation* M to the xinplenaant and unwelcome mate of relation, to which ,t waa likely to lead between me »n-l a very large proportion or my political lrieoda, have been painfully realized- I found inv*elf promptly acd ate.nly arraigned at the b Whip party of Georgia, for the language Cd vour seller) »Yhig po'icy." discards such a doctrine, as being tantamount to making the will of that Government (in other words, the will of the stronger section, as represented in that Government) su preme over ail sections of the Union, and over tbe limita tions of the constitution itself. To ibis the south earnestly objects; and insists not only on State rights, which the General Government may not violate, but also on State remedies, as a means of checking and arresting such viola tions. The north, on the conuary. feels but little solici tude about State rights, because she knows that the Gov ernment being mainly under ber control, will be in little danger of violating them, unless in obedience to ber will and interests. Stiff less does she care about State reme dies; for she possesses tbe requisite power of the General Government to compel it to administer its own remedies in all cases where she deems it desirable. Thus it is seen that both sections are addicted to contem plating and construing the constitution, and the powers and policy of the Government, very mueli through the medium of their respective interests. The one goes naturally for enlargement and free use of powers which she can control pretty mnch as she pleases to ber own advantage, and which, at all events, nobody else will be able to turn against her. The other, or southern section, is constrained, by her feebleness, to regard the powers of the Government rather as being exercised over than by her; and as be ing impelled and directed rather in accordance with the will and interest of the sectional majority by which, than of tiie sectional minority over which they are exercised.— Hence the aouiti ia svii.lilvcly Jealous of the enlargement of federal power by construction, and urgent fur ite con finement within the limits fixed by the federal compact. Such, then, are the natural political tendencies of the public mind iu the two grest sections. Not that I would say that all tbe people in either section exemplify' these ten dencies in their political sentiments and action ; ‘for there is always, to every general observation of this kind, some mount, greater or less, of exception and qualification; and what that amount is, most be dependent upon cir> enmstaneea But what I do undertake to say. is. thtt the northern section of tbe Union the strength of these tendencies ia, and will permanently be, to great and com .nanding. as to override ordinary party lines, and unite the suffrages of an overwhelming majority of-the peop e there 'n favor of what we of the South have been accustomed to egard as over artion of ihe Government, and an undue and unauthorized stretching of its powers. My great objection, then, gentlemen, to the national and congressional VV liig party, is. that it is the living, practi cal, energetic embodiment and concentration of that svstem of constitutional politics and fedeial policy which f have now pointed out as appertaining to tbe northern or stronger section of this Union, in opposition to the southern nr weak er section. Yes, gentlemen, there can be no doubt of it.— The Whigs here, and in the nation generally, are such a party ; and so the leaaiug measures and policy of tbe party iacon.estably prove These measures, when viewed together, form a most re markable concatenation ; and now that it is urgently piopo- sed to bind them as a chain around the body of the Whig party of tbe Sooth, they demand, end ought to receive, oar stern, patriotic aerutiny. Upon examination, they will be found to be well conceived and combined as a system of policy calculated for advancing the views naturally cherish ed by the stronger, tbe governing section of the confedera cy—being (some of them) mo iey lures and money engines for getting and keeping power, addressed directly to mo- lives of pecuniary interest and cupidity; whilst others, not of so pecuniary a cast, are equally adapted to securing and augmenting, in the hands of the stronger section, that su periority of control over the Government which it already possesses. First in order among these measures, comes the protec tive tariff system—that system whi-h is, avowedly, tbe leading and prrainonnt measure of Whig poliry—that sys tem upon which the hearts of a vast majority of the party are more set than on anything else—than even the election of Mr. Clay himself;—for tbe sake of which, indeed, they mainly desire his election and for the sake of which, they would, if need there should be, unhesitatingly sacrifice him. Look. I pray yon, at that system! What a monstrous mo ney-lure it ia ? What a wide-reaching and bare faced pe cuniary bribe it holds out to individuals and clasaea of peo ple—to the whole districts and sections of country ? What is that it promises to the people ? Why. nothing less than efficient encouragement and aid to all different branches of American industry—all the different investments of Ameri can capital;—m promise, in other worda, to increase, by positive and specific legislation, the wages of labor, and profits of capta), in all the pursuits of life—in all the depart menu of business. Can any thing be more atrociously false and profligate than such a promise ? Take notice bow vast and comprehensive it is; it leaves out nobody ,- it takes in every person and every thing—all the different interests and pursuit of the American people; for it would have looked badly, in an electioneering point of view, to have excluded any portion of the community d °f federal taxation for the promotion of these objects in tbe north and west. The injustice of such a system, to say nothiug of its unconstitutionality, is hideous. It realizes as to us, the scriptural curse of being made ‘ hewers of wood and drawers of water” for other*. It is a course of exaction, moreover, which mast go on as long as the rivers run. or tbe waters of the lakes and the sea lash the shores, unless it ran be arrested by the overthrow of that combina tion now fastened on the country, between internal im provements by the General Government and a tariff for protection. For both these systems, combined, will con vert tbe federal taxing power permanently into a joint-stock property in the hands of tiie sectional majority of the north and west, to be used at will by that majority, for its sec tional purposes, at the expense of tbe sooth. But 1 suppose tbe people of Georgia will be expected to take comfort, because, forsooth, these are "leading meas ures” of Whig policy. And Southern Whigs, especially, will be told that it is tiie part uf a good Whig to acquiesce cheerfully iu whatever may be the will and policy of the great national party under whose broad banner they have eulisteil. Such I am fairly authorised to consider as tbe present tendency ol the Whig mind in Georgia ; for my whig colleagues have undeniably enjoyed cordial and un qualified approval for their course in Congress, although still worse to bare omitted of the for the crime of opposition (to use "to the leading measures -of from the golden promise, an< the great majority. Hence, the promise, in words ar,d assurances, was and is unhesitatingly held out to all. whilst the promisors know full well that it is an absurd and impracticable promise as to more than nine-tenths of the people ; in whose month, like the fair-seeming and deceitful fruit that grows on the shores of the accursed sea of Sod- m, and necessarily prove but bitterness and ashes. None know better than they who bave studied the operation of protective duties with all the keenness and scrutiny which self-interett inspires, how comparatively small is the circle which monopolizes the benefits of the system. None know better than they that it is a system which* never operates as a discouragement, to those branches of American industry, the productions of which can go abroad and successfully compete, in the gen eral markets of the world, witlrthe like productions of oth er countries. And yet they persist in bolding out the delu sive promise of profit and encouragement to be afforded by it to all "tbe different branches of American indnstry." Gentlemen, tbit Government will bare to find the philo sopher's stone before ilenn aid and advance all the differ- ent interests—all the various branches of the industry of the country—by its legislative intermeddling. Until :bnt discovery shall be made, all such interior.idling must at least injur* a one portions of the people, quite a* much as it profits others. And then to think of using such an engine as taxation for this purpose! Why. gentlemen, of all the prerogatives of Government, the laying of taxes on the peo. pie, director indirect, ia the mnn solemn, tit* most re sponsible, and the -most liable to be perverted into abase ami Oppression—especially in such a Government and country ns ours, where one vast and distinct geo graphical section is enabled, by the numerical superiority ofils representation in federal legislature, to sway the seep ire over another vast and dissimilarly situated section-— Onre concede to such a Government ihe right to ure the , taxing power as a constitutional n eens of aiding, advancing j and protecting all "the different branches of American in- Congreas they have voted in favor oT bom these systems, whilst little else than reprobation has fallen to my lot, although I have voted against them both. It is t e first ins'apce. within my knowledge, of Representatives from Georgia giving their support to these systems. The time was. when such a course would have roused an instantaneous and consuming flame, from the seabord to the mountains. But times have changed ! A new era has dawned upon our long and deep ly benighted Southern minds. The Northern lummaries have shown upon us; and a general and exceedingly gen erous substitution is taking place, of Clay endorsed North ern principles for our obsolete Southern politics. A glori ous result is pronounced to be thus achieved. Il is loudly proclaimed that, throughout the Union, in every quarter. North, South. East, ana West, the Whigs form a perfectly barn onious and homogenous party ; and that entire unanim ity reigns in their ranks. Surely, for tbe take of such a novel and soul-soothing party consummation, the Whigs of Georgia ought to have been liberal-minded enough to give up, with cheerful submission, their old-fashioned State- rights, anti-protection, anti-internal improvement notions, and to pay a perpetual contribution, to boot, in behalf of Northern manufactures, and Northern and Western rivers and harbors. If such patriotic condescension is to be prac tised, however, it must be done without my concurrence or acquiescence. The third leading measure to which I ask your attention, gentlemen, is, the distribution of the proceeds of the sales uf tiie public lauds among the States. By recurring to toy address to the people, you will perceive that I there very pointedly,though incidentally, notice this subject; and inti mate my approbation of the distribution law asit was passed at the first session of the late Whig Congress, and my dis approbation of die attempt by that Congress, at its second se ision. tt, repeal the 20 per cent, proviso curtained in that law ; which attempt was defeated by tbe President's veto. The proviso in question requires tbe distribution to stop, and tbe proceeds of tbe sales to go again to the General Government, in case the duties on imports should at any time be raised above the 20 per cent, rate of the compromise. Such was the Whig policy on this subject in 1841. Mr. Berrien offered the 20 per cent, proviso; both he and Mr. Clay voted~for it, and a Whig Congress passed it. That Congress had nnt then made np iu mind to trample the compromise under foot; on the contrary, it then sacredly respected the compromise; an much so, that they could not harbor the thought of giving away the public money to the Sutss, for one moment alter it should he found necessary to lay duties exceeding 20 percent, on the |>eop!e. Whenever such a necessity should present itself, the proceeds of the lands should be brought back to the Treasury, in order that the dut.es might be kept down as low as |H»sibIe. But a change moat singula" <!t censurable, came over that Congress ere the close of its second session; A we find it restoring high duties and tbe protective system on the rains of the viola ted compromise; and. in addition to this, as if it sought to g lacatc an injured and outraged people by largecses to the tales, striving to undo its own previous legislation, and to perpetuate the distribution in the face of duties doubly, trebly, qoadruply—nay, in aome instances, more than eight and irn-fuld higher than 20 per cent. I fearlessly submit it* to the people of Georgia to aay whether they would have their Representative, on such great questions aa the tariff and distribution, to surrender himself servilely to be swung from side to side, with all the vibrations of tbe Whig Congressional pendulum. And what, gentlemen, ought to be thought of a Uepresentative who should to surrender liiiusell, when he knew, at the same time, that that pendulum receives it* controlling im pulses from another section of country, and from other in terests than ours—impulses under which it ia continually liable to be carried to extreme lengths against our rights and interests 7 But, gentlemen, although I will not be carried, at one swoop, from the 20 per rent- of tbe compromise to 40, 50 60, and 100 per cent., and more, of the present high protective tariff, yet 1 am willing to go aa far above 20 per cent, as ia necessary for revenue; and I am sure that a maximum of 30 per cent., with discriminations under it, would produce enough. And if Congress would give us such a revenue tariff; 1 would give my consent to a distribution of tbe pro ceeds of the land sales among the States for a short term of years. I would give such consent, partly lor the purpose uf holding out an inducement to certain portions of the coun try t» unite in that reduction of the tariff, sod partly for the purpose of extending timely aid to those States whose fittan ces are so heavily overloaded and depressed by an immense mass of debt. For these reasons, and in strict connexion with aoch a re duction ol the tariff ss I bare suggested. I should be willing to see tbe distribution policy carried out for a few coining years. But no considerations could bring nte to approve of quartering the States permanently, or fur a long period, on the Treasury, sa pensioner* or stipendiaries in any form. Such a measure would, in no great length of time, sap the foundations ol our political system, by altering radically and ruinously the character of the relations between the Gen eral Government and the States. The relations between them, if it were once understood that the distribution poliry was to be perimnent. woultl rapidly become of that 6ort which must, iu the long run, always exist between the hum ble receiver and the bounteous giver—relaiions. 1 mean, of dependence, suppleness, and vassalage. For our Federal, we should soon hare an Imperial Republic ; and subject provinces, in lien of sovereign States. Let not any man suppose that, if the policy of distribution is begun, it wn*ld soon stop of itself, by the exhaustion of the public lands; ami that, therefore, no limitation of time need be enacted against it. The amount of the public lands still remaining is immense, and tales must continue to nude of them for an indefinitely long time—even though grounds of objection against it (deep anil impressive as they are) at which I have glanced, a party, nevertheless, urges it on the country as a party measure—as a measure to be a- doptedand kept up permanently, at all events, without ref erence to the fiscal wants of the Union or the States. What does auch a measure mean, when thus made a party ques tion to this length 1 What else can it mean, than a direct and open offer of distributions of the public money in return for popular suffrages and support? The language of such a party is. "If you Kill put the Government iu my hands, l tcill make perpetual distributions of money among you as long as the public property lasts." So the great dem agogues of ancient Rome, in their struggles for power, were wont to lay the heavy hand of taxation and extortion nn the provinces, in order to fill the public granaries with corn, for distribution among the voters of the imperial city. A good deal of this old Homan spirit is yet extant in republics, and baa shown itself not a little, I have thought, among some ol our statemen, in their schemes for the gratuitous distribu tion of tbe public lands. I leave it to the people, gentle men. to decide l.ow for 1 ont right in calling it a money-lore and money-engine in the hands of those who insist on it as a party question, and as a reason why their party slituId be brought into power. The three leading measures of Whig policy which I have now noticed—namely : a protective tariff - , internal impnv- ment* by the General Government, and a distribution bv that Government o r the proceeds of the sales of the public lands among the States—are all, palpably, measures having their origin in pecuniary motives of the coarser sort; meas ures appealing, barefacedly and powerfully, in different forms, to that love of money, anil of tlto advantages it can bring, which is, beyond question, "the root of all evil” iu the working of our federal system. The next measure to which 1 shall advert is also one ex clusively pecuniary in its avowed aims and character—1 mean a national bank; which yon evidently treat, in your letter to me. as being still a leading and cherished object with the Whig party; though I confess my own observa tions have caused tne to doubt whether there is not. among the more enlightened and judicious of the party, now that the country has got a sound and uniform currency without the help of Congress, a strong disposition to let the subject alone. What was tbe great charge against Gen. Jackson, in connexion with this matter? Why, that when, under the auspices of a national and State Banks, everything was sound and doing well, he commenced warring upon the bank, and experimenting on the currency, and kept un his war qnd experiments until everything was thrown into de rangement and confusion. Such was tbe "head and front” of Gen. Jackson's offending, as 1 thought and said on all oc- rasions, from the first faint, forewarning sound of his hostile bugle, in 1829 and 1830, down to the time when, in 1832, amidst the exulting shouts of ninety-nine hundredths of the then State Rights (now Whig) party of Georgia, lie crushed what they delighted to call the “monster" with one Hercu lean blow of the veto power. And for years afterwards, tnv f olitical friends (with a few scattering exceptions) con tinued to laud the old hern for the deed, and to think the better of themselves for having bad ed and sustained him in it. During all this lime, my views and language were in a very different tone. I held that Gen. Jacks n, and all who co-operated with him in that part of his career, had ta ken on themselves a fearful and cu'pable responsibility ; that stability, above all other things, was indispensable to a sound system of money and currency; that it wa« a subject, in reference to which it was impossible to calculate or con trol the consequences which any great shock or revolution might, and probably would, engender—consequences carry ing disaster and dismay into all the walks of business, into all "the lanes and allies of life,” the humblest as well as the proudest. From considerations of this kind, gentlemen, I have always regarded all party tampering and experiment ing with the currency, when il is already in a sound s'atc as little short of a crime against the purses and property of, the people. Is not the currency now in a sound state ? Are not ex change*. also, between different commercial point*, sound and right? In answer to these questions, the actual state of things will fully justify me iu making a remark, which I used to consider applicable to the demand for a “hetter cur rency.” in the days of the successful operation of the late national bank, to wit: that politicians who are not. willing to put up with as good a state of the < urrency as existed then, anil now exists again, hut who insist on changing and revo lutionizing the whole system, and incurring the great and ruinous lt-izards incident to sucli change, for the mere chance of an infinitely small improvement, deserve not them selves the blessing of good money, and ought to be held bound to indemnify the people for all the losses they sus tain by bad money. So strong and self evident is this view, that it wou’d be strange if the Northern Whig party, which so unsparingly censured Gen. Jackson for refusing to let alone a currency that was already good enough, should now be found "fallow ing io Ins footsteps,” as schemers and experimenter* for a "better currency,” when a sound and good one actually ex ist* Mr. Webster, the great exponent of Whig principles at the North, has. you know, in a speech made a year or two ago. pronounced a national bank "an obsolete ideaand in Ids late speech at Trenton, in which J)e extols the Southern Whigs so highly for having taken so manly a stand (or the protective system, he goes into a statesman like examination of the subject of the currency, and bandies it in a manner clearly showing that, in bis opinion, it needs m t the help of a national bank. Il is my confident beliel that the mass of the intelligence of the Whig party afthe North is wilh Mr. Webster in this opinion, however tl>ey may remain silent, or even give color lor the benefit of the parly in those sec tions of the country whe'itlie bank question can still be made available a* a political stalking-horse. Nor does the manner in which the Whigs in the House voted on Satur day Iasi, on certain resolutions unexpectedly sprung on the House from the Committee of Elections, weaken or alter my belief. Those resolutions, are so frame 1. that, to vote against them, amounts not even to nn intimation in favor of the establishment of a bank ; though, to vote for tltem, is a very strong expression against such an institution. These resolutions were unexpectedly unreduced at the opening of the session in the morning; and it so happened that I was absent from tny seat, having remained in my room nn hour or two, engaged in writing this letter. 1 am therefore particularly rejoiced at thn opportunity your call gives me to express tny views more explicitly than could have been done by a vote on these resolutions. Gentlemen, with the profound conviction 1 entertain of the want of even the semblance of necessity for the creation of a national bank, on account of the present or probable state of the currency ; believing also that such is the senti ment of most considerate and eulighlened men, even a nong the Whigs, who are not willing to make sucli a question a party foot-i all—I am satisfied ilist, if » bank shall be estab lished during the coming administration, it will be done as a mere parly measure: and the fierceness of the party war uf which it will be the object throughout its existence, will be without example. If the General Government desires to provoke the States nf this Union to Nullification and eve ry species of dangerous extremity, let it. as now proposed, establish a national bank as a mere party measure—a party engine—as a vast-money power for strengthening the hands of the Government. For, gentlemen, if this thing shall be done, is it not clear that it must be done with these views— ar least with this effert 7 For to ask for a bank far tbe sake bf a sound currency, after the currency has worked itself sound, is quite as preposterous as it would be to subject a man to a strong course of medicine after he had recovered from a severe malady by the mere powers of nature, with out the help nf medicine. Surely, a constitution that can get well without the aid of physic, may b* properly trusted to keep well without its.aid. At all events, it is certainly entitled to a respite from the doctor's hands until it shad be gin to show some symptoms of returning to disease. I tell yoa. gentlemen, that fur any party to lay its strin g hand mi this now healthy country, and force a national bank down its throat as a mere party measure, will be the most fearful currency experiment that ever was practised in the tide of times. 1 trust that that portion of the Whigs of the South who signalized then .-Ives by being agninBt a bank at a time when they almuld hare been for it. will weigh tbe matter well before they signalize themselves again by being for it when they almuld be against it. For, in connexion with the arguments against such ■■■ institution, founded on the ab sence of any necessity for it in the slate of the currency, present or prospective, Southern men are bound to look at it in another view, which ought to be decisive willt them a- gainsl it. cSuch an institution, if established, will add anoth er, and the most powerful of all, to that list if money-engines which I have enumerated as constituting a policy going to strengthen the Government unduly, and to secure and con solidate it* power* and management in the hands of the long in all these things, and raising, in addition, her suicidal j Umon. They were not willing that there if 1. hand to aid the stronger section in tearing from the Consti- i quihbrium—a happily adjusted balance „t “° U d fa|." ! tution the only check il has interposed between the rights ttie North and South. \V bat they wanted kxJ" and interests of the weaker section, and the overmastering ance and ,u prcmaC y permanently secured legislative power of the stronger. I am ready to bow my | 1 hi. object they saw was defeated bv th, . lb *>» i c . head to die dust.Jind lift up my voice and weep aloud at such a vast and lertile Southern Territorv . the heavy and dismal doom which obviously overhangs the , stretched from the Perdido to the Rio Gr/Ji t "* 1 Mi* land of mv birth and or my soul’s deep and undying ullegi- j But they took heart, aud became reassured .IA n ,' 1 ance. For. gentlemen, you bave but to succeed in one oth- | ot iexas to Spam by us in 1819. Tli ey lllrv er measure, which you indicate to tne as a leading |>oint of expanse of all the States and remaining nation'^Ti l ** Me! Whig policy—the destruction of the veto power—and the j the Union, and were satisfied that the dectc dc,D, «osrf will of the sectional majority of the North, animated and j had placed the North in a perpetual suprei,,, * ^'itto guided by Northern interests, views and prejudices, will the prohibition ol slavery could be effected reign, unchecked and unembarrassed, at *11 times, over the i line of latitude. Hence the Missouri coinnrnrr.'" 1 * Cfn ii whole legislation of the country, and the condition of Ireland tearful struggle betweenthe North and JWrt c *»dti» at this day. rfs a minor member of the British empire repre was nreceded Jr \x-„. . .....—1„ r.— g.. “ vu- sented in the Imperial Department, will be a true, though fain’, picture of what will be permanently the condition of the South, as represented in. and governed by, tbe Federal Congress. Take notice. I pray you. that it is the sectional legislative majority in Congress, which we have no hand in electing, from which we have everything to fear. Then re member. further, that the veto power is but a negative—a restraint on the will of that majority; and you will perceive at once the sectional bearing against the Scuth. of the prop osition to destroy the power. And it will be destroyed with equal certainty by allowing the majority of the two Houses to overrule the veto, whether it be required to be done at the same session at which a bill is passed, or at a subsequent one—the only propositions, 1 believe, which bave been made on the subject. Take notice. ol»o, that tbe same sectional majority which frets under the Presidential veto, nntl demands ita removal from the constitution.does, at the same dine, deny and scout that right of State veto. orStqte interposition, for which we have been wont so strongly to contend in Georgia. Bear in iniud, moreover, that, as part and parcel nf the same system of politics, supremacy is asserted for the General Govern ment and its departments, over the State Governments and their de|iartmeuts. Gentlemen, we are solemnly bound—as Southern men and Southern patriots, charged by a favoring Heaven with tbecat-e of the fairest and feeblest portion of this great con federacy— to h-ok at all these things together, explore the sources from which they have sprung, and scrutinize their concatenation aud tendency. And if any mail who will do so. shall fail to perceive that the inevitable effect of this whole system of politics']* to unbridle the majority power of the Northern or non sluveholding section of tbe Union, and to give it full sweep and unobstructed sway over all the interests end affairs of the country, of every sort and character, there must, it seems to me, be something very unfortunate in the intellectual medium through which sucli a tnan looks at thiugs But this is not all. Nothing can be more evident than that the possession of sucli power by the Northern or stronger section, is subjugation and enslave ment to tbe Southern or weaker section. And ichut they desire to hold us in subjugation for, it glaringly dis covered by the character of the objects for n-hich they are so eager to exercise the taxing power, and by the region of country in which they hare ever taken care to con centrate an orertchelming proportion of the public ex penditures. Why, gentlemen, despots .want provinces mainly for the sake of the tribute they may be made to pay to tbe riches and grandeur of the governing country. And whul greater subserviency to these objects could even a despot ask of hi* provinces, than to submit patiently tube taxed to the extent of his pleasure, for the benefit of such branches of industry as he may choose to favor, and such objects o| expenditure aa it may please him to select ? And it is on just such a control of the taxing power and tiie pub lic expenditures, that the majority despotism of the North was preceded. It wa, a struggle for politic," Abolition bad not then reared her snakv Well, gent’emen, that compromise v,a 8 . *. '* <fa even greater as a sign than aa an event. It L ' all possibility or doubt, that, both in the slavery, or alaveholdmg institution, wat, f e ] t ,, .l* 1 * 1 liltcaltte, paramount to all others, arming tbo ..^^ which u existed. It proved that it was • tie k band together the States in which it existed n*° * , "«rua those in which it did not exist, on the other; them as two great sections of country i n „„ ' * “ to maner.t opposi'ion and contest for power in ih. der,f to. And if any man will just take up the map and' ° Dff<!w, 7 number of the States aud the extent and c h.r p *" tl W Territo y on the North aide of the liu* 0 f the e of with the tame things on the South side a still f will burst upon him, with overwhelming ..ir-"?r ci tf ni wit ? that frnm fhinomom nC •!,** i ® *« _ Wit Monroe as the that from the moment of the loss of t; oe's treaty, in February, 1829, the doom 5*! b ? *t. - weaker, aub.ect section or the confedersr i "’•i as nrmly fixed as the boundaries of the courtr* ,?’ The map will also show him how widrlv es; it will le ji SS has set its heart and laid its hand in this country. And that it is the profound study and anxiety of that majority to maintain ami strengthen its hold on power, is manifested as well by tbe war it is waging againstthe Annexation of Tex as, as by the Hostility it shows to the veto power. Gentlemen, the question of the Annexation of Texas is tbe last battlefield of tbe South against tile majority despo tism of the North. Ifithelr-st.it will be the field of Wa terloo to us. All hope of that equality and balance of power in the Legislature of the Union, which is indispensable to our safety and self-protection, will be extinguished ; and we must thenceforth apply ourselves to the ta k of recon cilement to our chains forever. If you want proof of this, beyond what the case carries on its face, you have but to look to the leading ground on which opposition to Annexa tion is based at tbe North. That ground is. that Annexa tion would extend tbe slavehotding region of the South, and augment its powe-. and consequently endanger or lessen the future preponderance of the North. Yes; sooner than put that preponderance in hazatd—sooner than risk tbe loss of the power of ruling and taxing us forever, according to their own will and interests—the while Whig, and part of the Democratic party of the North, have taken an imtnova b!e stand, not against immediate annexation merely—not a gainst annexation under existing circumstances merely—but against annexation now and forever, under ail and any cir cumstances. The hostility to tbe reception nf Texas into the Union, springing from this main and lending ground heightened by- a r“!igt<>us sentiment very prevalent at ill North against slavery, and by an apprehension of an armed interference from Great Britain. You will at once perceive thaVthese are not in their nature transient and controlsble. but permanent and irremovable objections to the measure In that portion of the Northern mind by which they are en lertained. And it was with a fuil knowledge of the un yielding character of the feeling to which they had given rise, and with a politic eye to it, that Mr. Clay penned his letter against Annexation, and put the following sentence in it: "I do nnt think that Texas ought to be admitted into the Union as an integral part of it. in decided opposition to the wishes of a considerable and respectable portion of the confederacy." He knew, when he penned these lines, two things: 1st. That there was a considerable and respectable jiortion of the confederacy embracing the body of the Wlfg party and a fraction of the Democracy of the North, that never would consent to Texas coaling into the Union ns an integral part of it: and. 2d. He knew further, that Texas {never would consent to annexation ou any other terms. 1 invite you. gentlenien, to review Mr. Clay’s letter. You wifi per cetve that it amount* to an unequivocal declaration that there nugrl.t tobe no aitettijit to acquire Texas—at least for a longtime to come, if ever; or rather the construction which forces itself on my mind is, that the attempt ought never to be made at all. What a sjiectacle have we here! A mar. illustrious by the long celebrity of his talent*, by the high stations he has fifed, and by the brilliant figure lie ha* made in his coun try's eye for the full third of a century—a man ambitious of glory in the service of his countiy. and occupying a most commanding and influential position—such a man. in the ve ry act of aspiring to the pre-eminently highest post in the public service, with millions bncking bis pretensions and la boring for his elevation—such a man. under auch circum stance*. has consented to do what? Why, to tie np hi* own hands, in cdvance, against even making an effort, no matter how honorably or successfully it might be made, for the recovery of what he himself adn.its to have been the formerly owned, aud most unwisely alienated, territory of the repuhlic. Yes ! Henry Clay binds himself in advance, and iu view of ins election to the Presidency, to make nn effort, to embrace no opportunity, of reinstating his country in the j>osses*ion of die boundaries which the immortal Jef ferson gave it One would ha -e thought that the rich blaze of glory, which the splendid acquisition would shed around his name and administration through future ages, rivalling that of Mr. Jefferson himself, would have been irresistible to such a mind ns Mr. Clay’s. Why did that, and every other consideration, fail of effect open him ? Has it come to light, in the slowly-made revelation of time, that Mr. Jef ferson was guilty of a blunder—of a mis-step—in the pur chase of Louisiana, and Texas as a part of it? Nobody thought so at the time, or has thought so since—except that intensely selfish and sectional party 'at the North, with which now. as then. Northern ascendency in the councils of the nation was. and is. the uppermost and all-absorbing ob ject. They well knew that, with the Rio Grande for our boundary, the equilibrium of the Union would be inde structible, and the itouth forever safe against Northern dom ination. Hence the tear* they shed, and the constitutional scruples they muttered, over Mr. JeQ'erson’s vast acquisi tion of Territory in the West and South. The feeble, com promising. short siglued administration of Mr. Monroe, was a God-send to this band nf politicians. Il saddled firmly upon the country their darling systems of a protective tariff and internal improvements. It involved us. by a treaty wilh Great Britain for joint occupation, in difficulties about tbe Oregon Territory, which everybody now sees are likely to fotce upon us war, or the surrender of our rights to a vast domain. Would to God this bud been all!* But no! A deadly blow must be let fall moat buogliugly on tbe equili brium of the confederacy, and on the self protecting caps- „ „... B biltties of tbe South in all future lime. At a moment when ; a party, into which, as a lump, our leaven is infused but w Mexico, arid all the continental American dominion* of Old I be lost, jint fell; in whose council* all view* founded on Spain in 'hat quarter, were dropping from her hands, by the interests are nullified by the overwhelming preponden^ irresistible process of war and revolution—when, conse quently, our relinquishment of our undoubted right to Texas in favor of Spain'* mere shred of a claim, was tantamount to making ber merely the conduit of passing tne title from rs to the then-revolted, and sonn-to-be-iudependent, Govern ment nf Mexico—at that moment it was. when il had be come broadly apparent that, within a few years at most, Spain would bens glad to quit-claim Texa* to t fate and relative strength but for the loss of Texas. Yes; it will le u «»», for that loss, the South, in the Federal fat always have been strong enough—not, indeed to if*' pressor, but full strong enough for self protection. ** > wrongful and oppressive legislation of the North. So far, then, ns the balance of power betweea it great sectioi a is involved in the question of Tex. ^ 1,0 lion, all that the South asks is, that the Guvernment kT*' let slip tbe oresent transitory nnportunitv of reinst-.i * ** those boundaries which Jefferson gave.'which Mon V* and which Adams and Clay sought to restore T o most reasonable and just demand of the South th, v° , particularly the Whig party of the North-l,,. peremptorily, No! And so peremptory was the t™ " which the answer was given, that Mr. Clay, who h«d7l Fer ’* himself into the arms of that party lor hit elecn^T*"! himself obliged to echo tltp response, or cotcprnai.; prospects lor the Presidency; for, bear in mind jj, ri had no hand in forming or ditecting Northern Whi.'J' nieut on the subject of Annexation. It was perfectly f ed, and inexorably settled, as it now stand*, a longiiri^ advance of the publication of his sentiment*. 4 ° ei * Now. gentlemen, I appeal to you to sav whether there! any circumstance, »n the present situation of our aanin , render the possession of Texas less nolitic orde.:,'ii than it. 1820 and 1827? Mr. Clav has not attempt ,! point out any auch circumstance. No man esu npL " any such. What. then, has changed the opi u j M , “ course of Mr. Clay ? What has caused him to oVr'.,, himself against the policy of Annexation, present or futp re? The cause is tobe found m the necessity under up cl "-, lay, of bowing to the behests of the Northern Whig p, nT in order to retain their favor and receive theirscffi-roj' lit no other way can we account for the grow contradict™ Between his late anti-annexation bulletin, and his npmiosi ol the policy and importance of our possessing Tcxsi ,, exptefscj in 1820, and afterwards still wore solemnly K . pealed and acted on in 1627. In no other way ctn «« plain the extraordinary fact that such a man as Henry Ciy should sue for the Presidency by assurances and lions, which, in the event of his election- will completely tie up his hands from ever endeavoring to render liiscoo’mrv vastly the most valuable and glorious service thaiatvcbtf magistrate has bad the opportunity of attempting" »,-j| probability of t uccess. since the purchase of LotmrjLi br Mr. Jefferson. And, gentlemen, it does neem to me dm, by so tying up his hands, he has disqualified himself for tks office to which he aspires. At ill events, it deserves in be so viewed and treated by all but those section lists of tbs North, who, with words of liberal and enlarged Atnericii. ism continually on their lip*, teject a noble arqoifitina of Territory, lest its incorporation into the Uni>u might tube a Southern counterpoise to their present Northern prepon derance. Gentlemen. I have detained you longer than 1 imrndol on the Texan question. My a|)ology you will find in tie fact, that it ia not only the most important, bats new ele ment, in tue great political contests of the conntrj-—one ia regard to which Mr. Clay has taken, since my late addreii to the people of Georgia, a most decided and tboroughfairg stand against us; and which stand constjtules oae moo strong ground oti which, as a Southern man and ss ta A- inerican puript. I feel bound to withhold from him my sip. port lor the Presidency. Tiie loss of Texas to the country is absolutely certain if Mr Clay is elected, unless we suppose he will depsn from the views announced iu his late publication. Should bis competitor he elected, the acquisition is certain, sole uh can be rendered certam by the action and exertions nf oor Federal Executive. But. gentlemen, were the Trim qjfstiou ont of the way, I should still think Mr. Cliycot entitled to Southern suffrages. J have already announced to the people of Gerffgia my dislike of the jiosiiion lie sens ed to occupy on the subject of tbe Tariff. He had bees taken up ns a candidate by us. on account of his anlbnr»hip ol tbe compromise, and his pledged adherence to iu princi ples ; and at the lime of nty making the announcement just adverted to, there were but too many reasons to fear tilt the compromise was no longer a sacred and respected thing with him, but that he had cenoonced it. and g"ne bmlu the full indulgence of his early love for the old Auiericsi system, a* it w.is called. Fora long time, 1 repelled tbe belief that such could be the case. His friends here.it» true, pronounced him theexponent nf their principles ind they were bold, thorough going protectionists. A letter d his, written from New Orleans, in Januory last, tnaCliy Club in Virginia, fell under my eye in March; and Iasi startled at its broad, daShi.tg advocacy of the protective syi* tem, as if the writer had lost the remembrance of having so recently solemnly tied himself down to the principles oflbe compromise, and to such a raising of the duties «t»ve SO per cent, as revenue required. But. at length.subsequent to my late address. Mr Clay'himself removed every doubt of his abandonment of the compromise, and of hisaaoedanof the abandonment of it by his frieuda; for. on the d«y slier the loss of the late tariff bill in ffie House, be wrote to t Clay Club in Pennsylv mia a letter, which has bee:i exten sively published, endorsing and a|>proving to the fullest ex tent tiie tariff of 1842. W"ell, here was a singolir circuit. Mr. Clay retires from Congress in 1842. pledging himself to the principles of the compromise, urging bis "friends to tie observance of them in tbe adjustment of ihe tariff. Hi! friends pay not the least respect to his advice or to the prin ciples of tiie compromise, but enact aa old-lasht»ned 6 | ? !l protective tariff and vote with unanimity in the enauing Congress (the one now sitting) against at "all mod-fvitg« reducing it. Mr. Clay is present a looker on. and apprevei of their course; and closes the scene by bestowing unquil- ifieil written ap|ilause on a tariff' that had been passed in vi olation of the compromise and his own urgent recommenda tions. Thus, on the two greatest questions imsgiioibie—*" e Tariff and Texan Annexation—we find Mr. Clay ditsP" pointing all the just expectations founded on his former tel!, expressions, and assurances, deserting the iSoutb, and tlnon- ing himself, body and soul, into the support of the interests, and policy of that strong, selfish, sectional party «> the North, to wiiiclt I have repeatedly- referreJ. Were it not for his desertion of the South or these tvo question*. I should rejoice to support him. although I Big 61 not think with him on all even great questions; for 1 •* fully sensible that we ought not to require the views ol * - candidate for the Presidency to square with our own t» *“ ’*' thing*. But w hen a man ha* placed binif elf in a grs e 1 attitude of hostility to Southern interest* in everymmg” when he has become the standnru hearer, tbe --embotii- ment” of the principles of that sectional majorit» po* e . r lt tbe North, which has got u* down, aod shows a deterra-nt- tion to keep us down forever- it is high time for us to p* s5 ® and look about ns, and consider well the sacred ch»rae< tr of the duty which God, our ancestors, and oor country.!'*]'* made it solemnly incumbent on us to perform towards't* Imid of our birth, and of our and our chi'dren’s homes* 1 ™ destinies. If the people whom Heaven ha* blessed *>• the advantages, and charged with the guardianship.. u and inrely. bur comparatively feeble region of earth..*■>* be neglectful of the trust, in their too absorbing devour* v »»»«•ssisvvs wy me iitcivMicuii'i'p t" r ^ »(j of lift North;—1 sav. if our people, from their Je' 011 ^ such it great national party, on any candidate t«»r P° shall fall short of the most watchful and energetic C3 ^ their own rights and interests—in the name of He*****’ ^ or by whom, do they expect those rights and iuterf* 15 protected and defended ? For my own part, I am well satisfied that the reve “ , in order j- amalgamation with any great national party, or de* - to thwart her rebel Mexican dependency, as France had , ita leaders and aspirant*, is the true and only safe P 01 '*- been, in 1803, to sell us Louisiana, lest the British should the South. Such amalgamation and devotion absolute } ^ conquer it from her;—such a moment it was, I say. that ! niliil.ue our political weight and importance, a"' 1 re, “'f ,jj e Northern st etional majority. For, in regard to * bank, no J Mr. Monroe's administration selected for swappingof Tex- utterly-inefficient, except "to swell the train, and Pj°i . L _. .. — | 1 aa for Florida. Is it not manifested, by the after course of measures orthat ruling majority of the party wbiv® res •avmvatm tl.afv, littl** tk»»» ^tsdoill wllicll WatlS UpOtl UtllO tO U ‘ ~2 <»- — man can doubt that the control over it will lie where the commerce and moneyed capital of the country are mainly I events, that a little of that t ... found—and that iain the North. Well,the weight of i>op- J work out her designs in our favor, would hate enabled us than ours. But by holding ouraelv u/ntion and of control over the Government lies, and will j to get clear of the Spanish claim to TVxaa, by only giving a pendent position—prepared, on all forever lie. there also} hence the bank and Gcvernhient ] very small additional |>rire for Florida ? But the adminis- make ihe great questions of Southern ruling majority oi tne pan* .her stars under other 8k:es. and imbibes the influence of 0 • es in a ao»«»fc«L?r£ opportune „ r , F h. »nd_po «.»P n . | to be the creator, but also the largest stockholder and cus- j The deed was no sooner done, than it was denounced by during the session of Congres toiner of this bank, and that the hank will come into exist- Henry Clav. Opposed «.* he then was to the severance of Presidentiel election. Fori ediaiely P re 1 ‘ ^ io ® ™ u, men. and tWg f(e .
