The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-10-24 00:00:00

MR. WEBSTER ON REPUDIATION.

The following extract from a speech of Mr. Webster,
at an agricultural meeting in New York, will be read
with pleasure by those who are interested in the debt of
Pennsylvania, to many of whom that unbquidated debt
has brought beggary and ruin :
" Mr. President and gentlemen,—What is the credit
and character of this glorious country, to which we all
belong, abroad ? We are rich ; we are powerful ; we
have all the means of accomplishing whatever virtuous
human desire can embrace. But what is our credit?
And I am not one of those disposed to complain of or to
stigmatise in any way the efforts of the states of this
great union who have sought for funds abroad to carry
on those enterprises and improvements which their sense
of utility has projected ; on the contrary, I think that
the circumstances of the times and the necessities of the
case may justify, at least to a considerable extent, the
engagements into which some of the states, especially
the Western states, have entered abroad. Among those
which have thus justifiably become involved is the state
of Pennsylvania, the richest state in the union, in my
judgment—perhaps I ought to except New York—but,
taking her mineral, commercial, and agricultural facili-
ties into consideration, I don't know on the face of the
earth, excepting England, a richer state than the state
of Pennsylvania. (' Take off her debt,' said Governor
Seward.) My friend Governor Seward says, Take off
her debt.' Her debt—her debt! What can be the debt
of a state like Pennsylvania, that she should not be able
to pay it—that she cannot pay it, if she will but take
from her pocket the money that she has in it ? Eng-
land's debt is ingrafted upon her very soil ; she is bound
down to the very earth by it ; and it will affect England
and Englishmen to the 50th generation. But the debt
of Pennsylvania—the debt of Illinois—the debt of any
state in this union—amounts not to a sixpence in com-
parison. (Cheers.) Let us be Americans; but let us
avoid, as we despise, the character of an acknowledged
insolvent community. (Cheers.) What importance is
it what other nations say of us, or what they think of us,
if they can nevertheless say, you don't pay your debts ?
(Applause.) Now, gentlemen, I belong to Massachu-
setts; but if I belonged to a deeply indebted state, I'd
work these ten fingers to their stumps—l'd hold plough,
I'd drive plough, I'd do both, before it should be said of
the state to which I belonged, that she did not pay her
debts. (Loud cheers.) That's the true principle ; let
us act upon it (cheers) ; let us go it' to its full extent.
(Deafening applause.) If it costs us our comforts, let
us sacrifice our comforts ; if it costs us our farms, let us
mortgage our farms. But don't let it be said by the
proud capitalists of England. You don't pay your debts.
You republican governments don't pay your debts.' Let
us say to them, We will pay them ; we will pay them
to the uttermost farthing.' rhat's my firm conviction
of what we ought to do. y That's my opinion, and water
can't drown, fire can't burn, it out of me. (Loud ap-
plause.) If America owes a debt, let her pay it—let
her pay it. (Deafening cheers.) What I have is ready
for the sacrifice. What you have I know would be ready
for the sacrifice. At any rate, and at any sacrifice,
don't let it be said on the Exchanges of London or Paris,
don't let it be said in any one of the proud monarchies
of Europe—' America owes, and can't or won't pay.'
God forbid ! (Cheers.) Let us pay—let us pay. (Long-
continued and loud applause.) Let us say to them,
Produce your bond, and take your money, principal and
interest. Add it all up, and take your money.' (Ap-
plause.) Let us say to them, We are not your slaves ;
we are not paupers; we will not be your debtors ; we
will pay ; produce your bond—here is your money—take
it.' (This was followed by repeated and deafening
cheers.) And until that is done, my friends, you and I
cannot feel as if we could draw a free breath. I don't
want to be indebted to the capitalists of Europe ; if we
owe them anything, let them produce their bill. if my
professional earnings are of any worth--if they are
wanted—if my farm is wanted—if the conveniences of
life for myself, for my wife and children, are wanted, so
far as I am concerned, so far as America is concerned,
come and take them. (Cheers.) That's the light ground
to take, and let us take it. In the north and south, in
the east and west, if there live any who are descended
from the fathers of the revolution—any in whose veins
runs a drop of their blood, and in whose hearts lives a
particle of their proud spirit—let them rise up and say,
that if we owe Europe, Europe shall be paid. (Loud
cheers.) I wish to breathe the breath of an independent
man. A citizen of a proud and honoured country, I
abhor the idea that my daily happiness is to be marred
by the consciousness that anything disgraceful hangs on
the country or any part of it. Let us, gentlemen, be
proud of our country ; but let us preserve for that coun-
try the character of a just and debt-paying nation. Let
it never be said among the nations of Europe that the
United States of America—the nation that had its birth
in the glorious scenes of '76—the country of Washington
—the example and great type of all modern republics—
cannot or will not pay its debts ! "