Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1844-10-03


road of Justice and truth! Here lies England along
orr whole Northern coast. We are accessible
through the whole of the eastern and southern hor-
der, and yet we are to be told that Great Britain
will sail around the dangerous seas about F1orada,
and into the shallow lagoonS of all Southern Texas,
and Dass through the swampS of the Mississippi,
living between these and the Sabine, to smuggle
goods into America The same reasons which for
bid its being used as place of smuggling, apply
with greater force against the idea of Andrew jack
son. that Texas would, in the hands of England, be-
come point Of attack. II 1t were not from the
source whence this argument came, it would de-
serve to be passed in contemptuous silence what,
when we are unable to guard the line from the
mouth of the Sabine to the southern border of Ar
Kansas few hundred miles-eXtend the line from
the mouth of the Rio Grande, 1900 miles, including
Santa Fe to its source, embracing 100000 square
miles more than the kingdom Of France-and then
we can defend it But if names are thus to weigh
down common sense, put Napoleon against jack
son. and he tells that desert is the best barrier
against foreign incursions and should England be
fool enough to land in the shallow bays of Texas,
unfit for the first class OF war steamers and hazard
her army through the unproductire swamps be-
tween the Sabine and the great river, we would
have time enough to rally hals million of freemen
from the Lakes to the Gulf, to give her ball and
steel as soon she showed herself from the cane
breaks of the Mississippi. The idea that England
seeks to surround US is equally absurd. If she did
she would only awaken her force, and enable US
wherever drawn up in battle array. But England
seeks not to possess Texas she has again and again
in the most formal manner, dsclalmed any lmpro-
per interference, of any character whatever, and if
she should attempt it, then let by arms, if neces
saw stand for Texas independence. l would al
ways treat an opponent with respect, but must
confess that lose my patience when l see such
men as Mr.. Bancroft urging the annexation of Tex
as, under the damnabe pretence that it would ulti-
maely lead off slavery from our soil Manufactu-
rers, do yon lower the price of your goods by ac-
Quiring additional markets? Farmers, do you di-
minish the price of your produce by having two
manufacturing towns to sell it to instead Of one p
Tnen tell more that you will destroy slavery
in the States by finding in Texas new markets for
slaves and thus enhancing the profits Of slave
breeding in all the grain growing slave States in the
Union. What presumption is it, for men here to
set up such opinions against the combined expert
of all who live in the slave States, both those
who in favor of emancipation and those who
advocate eternal slavery, agreeing in this only, that
the admission of Texas will tend to make slavery
i'll the United States centuries to come! Nor
do We want Texas for the purposes OF emigration
and expansion of our population. Every principle
Of political economy teaches us, that up to the time
when the earth to afford sustenance for its
inhabitants, it is desirable not to diminish popula-
ton, bat to increase it-because all the burthens
of clyIl government, moral and Intellectual i'm
proyemeat, are 4cssened to each individual by the
accumulation Of numbers, to say nothing of the
jsareciioa of all the arts which accrue from the d
vision of labor and the laws of intelligent observa
ton and heightened competition. We are capable
on our present SOIL of sustaining more than two
hundred millions OF men, Far Distant then, is the
day when it will be the interest OF our people to
leave u.s. No. don't want Texas to prevent
smugglin5--we don't want it to prevent England
from getting it as point of attack-we don't want
it or purpose of e,nigration-we don't want it to
destroy slavery. Oh, no! I ask every democrat
here to-lght to tell if there be under Heaven any
reason why this project then is urged upon US, in
all this hot haste, but for the avowed, the single.
the damaable purpose of extending slavery over
the uabsra ifty millions of Texas, and perpetuatng
the slave rule and our posterity? Once
more, repeat, | am against it, now, and forever
The Romans made their prisoners Of war pass I'M
der yoke, to remind them of their serviude-here
is yoke labelled soar and perpetual slauery;-
shall the future historian write it, that the descen-
dantS of the patriots OF '76 went forward to the
polls in 1911, and voluntary submitted their
necks to bondage, gladly prostrating themselves
before the heel Of the tyrant
Batif You take Texas, you must pay her debts,
$25 0JO,O00 says Mr.. Benton-who also tells what
we all believe to be true, that not single foot Of
unappropriaed land remains in Texas proper, to
come into our possession and liqudate the debt we
pay for her. How dare the men who will not give
us our own land money, to pay our debts and re-
leve our own States from Reputation and dshonor,
to thrust their internal fingers into the pockets of
inc OF AuleTlCds 10 pay Oh mon.
ey for foreign nation, incurred in propagating
slavery among men We trample upon the most
solemn treaty between Mexico and the United
States, and rush over the Constitution, to war in
this iendish propagandism: and in such war, ac-
cording to the laws of nations, it is not only the
right, but the bounden duty of all Christendom to
come in to the help of Mexico, and reduce us to
sense of common Justice. And in such war, when
the banner of 1776. q" right against might" once
borne BY them-when shall be called upon to
rally to the standard of my country, inscribed with
% eternal slavery" am bold in the avowal that
though profess to be as brave as most men, have
no heart for such contest-I am a coward in such
cause! On our own soil, in defence Of our own
rights, defy the world in arms-but in such
as this, if the Bible be true, we cannot sue.
coed if history be not fable, we cannot hold per-
manent conquest =" they who live by theAsword
shall perish by the sword" and at all times domin-
ion based upon unjust conquest, has fallen to sud-
den ruin and ultimate retrbutive desoation. This
Republic must stand upon justice, high moral
sentiment, or else it cannot stand at all ; there
must be either aregard for right or resort to the
sword; either pure hallot-box, the pestilential
cartridge-box The day that the nation deliber-
ately violates right, the Constitution of our coun-
try crumhes into the dust and is gone forever, and
upon its ruins rises force and utter despotsm. And
now called upon, in the very onset to per-
petrats this outrage against the laws of nations and
nature, by tramplng the Constitution under foot
ia two several instances-once, as l have shown
before, by violating the 5th article Of the amend.
ments, by admitting her at all. The Constitution
is an instrument Of delegated powers all powers
not given are reserved to the States or to the pco-
pie. Where I ask every Democrat here, is the
clause giving the Federal Government authority to
AIDA foreign nation to US, or us to foreign nation