The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1844-07-13


thing the most remote, this arbitrary ediot
declared, without one syllable in the acl
to support it, that it was our intention, IN
passing it, TO repeal these specific duties
and minimums. This outrage on the law,
which, because the Executive, whose pro-
vince it was to collect the duties, had
perpelrated it, was utterly without remedy
proved of great injury to,a!l those manu-
iactmers which depended for protection
upon the minImums and specific duties.
And hereiel me pause, for the purpose
OF en,reaing every friend of Home Labor,
who has ever thought of voting for James
X. Polk, as. President of the United States,
TO take warning by the example which |
have now set before him. II there be
such man, let hlm not lay the fattcring
junction to his soul tina, he can save his
taverlte policy, while the Executive oi
the United States, with the officers of the
Customs appointed by him, is hostile to
that policy. They have the collection of
the duties for protection, and he who
would commit the lamb TO The custody of
the wolf, will justly suffer for his own
folly.
Twodays after The passage of .his bill,
Congress adjourned; and in less than three
months. we learned, to our perfect aston
ishment, from the public prints, that Mr..
Calhoun was in South Carolina, exulling
among his followers on account of what
he called his triumph over Henry Clay. In
the session OF 1889 he even went so far
as to tell Mr.. Clay, on the floor of the
Senate, that at the passage of the Com
promise, HE was his master! It is true,
that Mr.. Clay reproHed The foly of bis
arrogance, and even told him shat he
would not own him for a slave But
those who forced him into the position
have described, had then left the Senate;
and the staggering Of Calhoun was not
rebuked by them. finish this sketch by
simply stating the fact, that Mr. Calhoun
is row understood 10 be q friend to the
election of James X. Polk, the peculiar
friend of General Jackson, who in 1888,
threatened to hang them as high as Hamall,
and that Mr. G. is also the unc omprUmis-
ing enemy of Henry Clay.
| have trespassed too long, feIlow-cili-
zens upon your patience; but allow me,
in conclusion, by every consideration of
what rs due 10 the honor and interest of
yosr country, by every feeling WHICH
ought TO warm and animate your hearts
as American citizens, anxious for the pro-
lection of your own industry and the
welfare of all the laboring classes among
US, to enIreat You not 10 overlook the
true issue, to be decided i'm November
mkt between Henry Clay, of Kentucky,
aud James X. Polk, of Tennessee. II is
not question between men merely;-it
'snol question about Eonors ard offices
and the rewards OF partizan service; it is
not question about the payment of the
State debts, or the acquisition of a for
elgn territory: ii is, as have said already,
emPhatlcaily, a question of BREAD
question whether we shall sink the mass
OF The iaborung freemen of this country,
who now gain their bread by the sweat
OF their brows, to the level of the Europe
an paupers, who labor for six pence a
day and lind themselves. 1t is an axiom
OF eternal truth in politics, that nation
completely impoverished will soon be a
nation completely enslaved. II, by the
abandonment of protection to home labor,
we reduce half a million of voters at an
election TO condition of as servile de.
pendence and as abject poverty as our
Southern slaves, how long can we ra,ion-
ally expect TO remain a nation Of lleemen?
More than hundred and forty years ago
the treaty of Melhuen, which was one of
the principal causes Of the beggary and
want o! Portugal, reduced her to the con-
dl'ion of dependency of England, struck
down her national spirit, and enslaved
her people. By that treaty she abandon
ed all right to protect her own industry,
and agreed to admit British woolen goods
of all kinds wi'hou, duty or restriction.
Nineteen centuries ago, when Rome
had conquered the principal part of the
world, and freely admitted supplies from
Syria and Egypt into Italy, the ndutry of
her own citizens was paralyzed by the
withdrawal of that protection to which it
was fairly entitled, poverty and want
Teigned where plenty had prevailed, and
a race Of men, the bravest and (reest that
ever lived, were speedily converted into
the subjects of despot And so keenly
did Taci'us, one of the gravest and most
philosophical Of her historians, feel the
degradation of supplying her legons from
the industry of foreign countries, that he
has announced with an oath of vexation
and disgust that deplorable change in her
condition. Let us take warning from the
of other nations. Let us guard
and protect the real, nolmere!y the nomi-
nal independence Of our country. The
ever fervent aspirations from every true
American heart, will be for the preserva-
ton of that independence. "Esio 1erre-
ina" MAY IT BE EVERLASTING.