The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1836-1851, 1842-07-06
From the Charleston Mercury.
TARIFF ARGUMENTS.


There is some amusement TO be had in look
:ag over the recent arguments of the protection
nen, of which we would not deprive our readers
though fully aware that to the great majority
Of them, indignant at the outrage upon their
rights and all good faith, which the whig party is
bent on pcrpetrating. it would be an iniiiction,
did we occupy our columns with any long discus
sion OF the neXpedicncy and unconStitutionality
of taxing other classes TO enrich the manuiactu-
rers. To reason with the latter, who carry their
reason, their patriotism, conscience and religion
In their purses, and who know no other voice
but that of Mammon, would. not only be useless,
but desertion Of the ground which the South
has long occupied and is bound 10 maintain, if
true to her own honor and to pos;erity, that the
discussion is closed for us, and we have no
more to say than that we will not submit to a re-
ylral of the odious tyranny. 1t were like vast
ing time in pling trusms and working the proof
of axoms, to encounter Protectonists as, una
Dashed by refutation, they return again and again
to knitting up the rarclIcd sleeve or sui'liis:ry
and falsehcod; and it is hard to keep ones temper
towards the impudence that persists in urging
their dishonest projects in the self same garb ol
hypocrisy, in which they have been so often
met, detected and spurned. They believe they
can make money bya protective tar, and they
will have it if possible; and unless they are vo-
ted down by Congress, or vetoed by the rresl-
dent, or nullfel by the States TO think OF check
ing them by any thing less potent, is as prepos-
ferrous as if Archmdcs had sought to move the
earthswithout fulcrum: for whcreupon shall we
restsour lever! On established principles of po-
iitca1 economy! They scout at the lessons OF
experience, and call them the dreams of thco-
rsts. On facts certified by public documents!
They turn their backs upon the national archives,
and fly to Justification of their own. On the
Constitution! They declared war upon 1t IN a
formal manifesto; and dcride as. absolute Sab
stractonists'' all who hold tsip any sort of rev.
erence. On justice, patriotism, conscIcncc!-
Their God is mammon. They have determined
to effect their purpose sat every cost and hazard
as the ruin they have wrought in the revenues
and credit Of the Government bears witness
Why should the South do more than silently and
calmly abide in the unalterable resolve tosresist
them!
We have seen the Wing party proceed from
one measure to another in sacrificing the people
to capitalists and giving the public chest into the
hands of stock gamblers. Foled on the Bank
question:, they have nevertheless divided the
land revenue, and are pressing the assumption
of State debts, that foreign brokers and their
agents here may be bileted upon the American
laborer, and now boldly proposing the double
pertidity OF breaking the compromise, and the
pledge to it in the proviso of the Distribution
Act they have concentrated all their energies
and identified their existence as a party for and
with Tariff of protection; and henceiorward
SHOULD be named in the South only as The IariD
party
Is the spirit of our people less resolute be-
cause they are silent and calm in the view OF
these abominable things! Have they been so
broken and humbled by the iron tyrany of the
Bank, and the fungus aristocracy of rag brokers,
that they will submit to any thing! No!-They
are not reused and hotly excited, because no.
thing base from the Wing party is new or strange.
1t is no surprising thing to find the manuiactu-
rers unprincipled and greedy for spoil, nor that
thew should ask violation of the compromise
at the hands of the Wings, who have proved
that their forte and avocation is the bold break
ING of pledges. But the South is not the less
resolved 70 insist on the compromise, because
convinced of the dishonesty of the OTHER parties
to it. The war is over, and our rights dchncd
by solemn treaty. let it not be supposed, be-
cause we abide in quiet beneath our own vine
and fig tree, and do not saw the air brandlslilng
defiance at every threat Of invasion, that we are
not ready, again to strike, should the tyranny
we have stricken down again erect ITSELF
While the Tariffites have multiplied petitions
for authority to plumber us, we have deemed it
neither polite nor dgnfed, to recognize by
counter petitions any Congressional discretion
in sucha a question. We had supposed that the
significance of such quietudc was not to be mis-
taken-that our silence was even eloquent
But with Characteristic Tariff effrontery it is