Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1839-04-25

appropriations fer this single branch Of Internal
Improvement, has, in ten years, under an Aati. IN
fernat improvement Naturalization. been more
than trebied in amount, In truth, the appropria.
lions for this object, have been much larger during
the administration of Gen. jackson and Mr. Van
buren, than they were under any preceding Ad-
ministration!
No apprehension can be seriously entertained by
rejecting and observing men, that any attempt will
be nade to revive The policy OF protecting duties.
he manufacturers themselves, as we have before
remarked, desire stability rather than higher du-
ties, subject to perpetual and sudden change, even
It the more exalted motive of patriotism did not op-
crate upon ali classes and ell parties alike to avoid
the renewal OF a controversy, which, at no very re-
mote period, threatened to light up the torch Of
civil discord, aud to dissolve the political ties tha,
have so long united the several States Of this Con-
tederacy together in the bonds OF a common broth.
erhood. But ii may well be questioned. whether,
It the subject be again revived, MIR. Van Buren,
should be selected as the organ OF Southern opin-
ions and the defender OF Southern interests, when
Il Is recollected that he voted both for the TatifT OF
1924 and 1928, the latter, TO be sure, under : 10.
strnctions," but il is believed that those instruc.
tons were IN accordance with his own opinion,
ssd we're indeed procured by his own instrument
iality. We are Justified in this inference by the
course pursued by Mr.. Van Buren,, on a previous
occasion, lin 1927 when he unequivocally init
mated, il he did not expressly avow, to a distin-
guished Virginian, then in the U. S. Senate, his in.
tention to cooperate rih The South in opposition
TO the Tariff hill then before that body; but, when
the yeus and nays were called, his name was recor-
ded against the South! 1t was on that occasion
that the Virginia Senator remarked to MIR. Van
Buren,: Sir, you have deceived me once-that is
your fault; Il you deceive me twice, it will be mine''
Ia remark which might be addressed with equal
i pprfipapev IN Mr. Vim nuraa Iv tho ,.o.fa &C VI.
gina now. On this subject, indeed, rs on every
other important question which has arisen, Mr..
Van Buren, has paltereI with us in a double
sense;' His changes of opinion may have been
the honest counsel OF bis judgement, but. we re-
peat, that, ii they were, they betray a destiiution
of fired principles, wholly incompatible with the
character OF an enlightened Statesman, and dam
gsrous in the Chief Magistrate of a free people,
governed by a writ,ea and limited consti,u-
ton.
Ga the Abolition question, Mr.. Van Buren is
said to be "a Northern man with Southern prinei-
ples;' and in an Address lately promulged to the
world, under the authority of imposing names, the
people of Virginia are gravely assured tina, /" he
declared tefore his election, that if he came into
the Presidential Office, he would feel himself bound
to veto any bill which inieffered with the rights oil
Shareholders in the States where the institution OF
domestic slavery existed, or in the District of Co
lnmbia:"-and it is added, for the purpose Of Civ.
ing point to this assertion. "He did not wait TO
see whether he could derive any personal advan.
tage from that fanatical spirit which was spreading
so rapidly &c. The fact is otherwise. He
gave no assurance before his election. Not unit
after he pas elected, did he give any such pledge
That pledge was contained in his Inaugural Speech
But OF what value is such an assurance, whether
given before or after his election7 Whenever the
period arrives, ifi over shall arrive, when a ma.
joriiy of Both Houses Of Congress shall be prepa
! red to pass such a law, the South will nor calml,
await the slow action of a Presidential veto. She
will take her own defence into her own hands, and
she will enter the lists with weapons of different
temper. But there is n question Incidentally con.
nected with this vitality important subject, and
which has an immediately practical bearing upon
which Mr.. Van Buren, has given no recent pledge,
and in reference to which his Southern friends
strange as it moy appear, have made no effort "a
ascertain his present opinions. That question is
the a Omission of new States into the Union, with
out requiring them to renounce the right to tolerate
slavery within their limits, as a condition precedent.
1t is well known what Mr.. Van Buren's opinion.
psre on this subject, when Missouri applied for ad.
mission into the Union. Mr.. Van Buren, was then
a member of the New York Legislature, and in
that capacity, he voted for a serie, of resolution.
affirming the Constitutional power Of Congress to
impose this condition., asserting the expediency o.
exercising that power, in the broadcast terms, and
instructing the Senator'S Of this State. in Congress
to insist upon this condition, so offensive TO III,
South, and so incompatible with the right of eacl
State to frame ITS own organic laws, without an,
other restriction or limitation than that impo
sed by the Federal Constitution. If Mr.. Van Blu
ren's opinion has undergone no change, as it is fai
TO presume that II has not, since no change has eve
been avowed, be must of course veto a law, if such
a one be passed-as it will, in all probability, b,
during his term of service-admitting Florida int
the Union, without the inhibitory clause which h,
endeavored to impose upon Missouri. This. there
fore, Is a question of practical and pressing ippor
lance, and it behooves the people Of the Sontherl
States TO ascertain the true position in relation O il
of the Northern man with Southern principles,
before they determine to "sink or swim" with him
in preference to a Southern man piA SoutAer,
principles. And it is due TO the occasion 10 re
mark, that, among the leading Wings who are nov
branded as Abolitionists. or denounced as favorite
ct that faction, are men who signally illustrated
their devotion to the South and TO the PRINCIPLES O
the Constitution. when Mr.. Van Buren, was ,ow
ing the seeds of that fearful fanaticism which ha,
already contributed TO ALLEVIATE the two great di
visions OF the Union from each other, and which
If it be not checked in its growth, must ultimatel,
terminate in the dismemberment of the oopfed,.
racy.
"oS occu ssihTuhiCialy announced, within q
few days past, by the organ of the Administration
that one of the issues" involved in the mex, cleo,
tion of a President, viii be the policy most prppe,
to be pursued by the General Government in rela
ton to the disposition of any surplus which NAV re-
main in the Treasury, after the payment of thu
ordinary charges upon the revenue. IL il wei
known that the Wing party are of opinion, that, il
the expenditures of the Government be reduced tc
that economical standard, from which they have SC
widely departed since the period Of Gen. Jack.
sons election the duties on imports, accruing un.
der the Compromise Act, will be fully adequate
should no extraordinary emergency occur 10 defra,
them. They contend, therefore, that the nett pro.
ceeds of the sales ofthe Public Lands, which, in
that event, will constitute a surplus, should be d-
vided among the several States. according to some
equitable ratio Of distribution. The administrator
on the other hand. claim that this surplus shall Le
Appropriated to The purposes of - defence,' as they
style it;tsd they present il as an antagonist propo.
sition to Vie plan Of" distyi6ution,'' a scheme sub
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