Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1844-06-21

trade Win the enemy, as the only HneahS vi supply
Of such articles as neither Government nor people
could live without Shall we again subject our
selves to the inconvenience and shame Of SNUG
ginr from hostile country the very blankets which
cover our soldiers; and while stacking fire. that the
smoke of our guns may clear away, shall we nego-
tate for the purchase of powder?
/ am sorry to say, Mr. Chairman, that am not
among those who discern in the signs of the times
sure tokens of abiding peace. The age of con-
quest, it is said has passed away; but at moment
when our own administration is meditating war
Of conquest and has already virtually declared hos
tties i'm that unhoy cause it lies not in our mouths
to say that such no longer possible. Sir,
l have too much respect for the cool judgment OF
our statesmen, and too much confidence in the re-
gard of our people for the principles of justice, and
the integrity of the Union, to believe that they VIII
assent to the consummation OF project, whch,
under the circumstances can only be characterized
as supremey unwise, and pre-emlnently ilagltlous,
and which must necessarily result, not In dissen-
sion, but in disruption. do not therefore appre-
bend conflict with Mexico, or its necessary corol-
larry, an immediate war with England; but cannot
be blind to the fact that we in constant danger
of rupture with the most formidable power upon
earth. Great Britain, sir, holds Canada on the
North, her fleets command the Atlantic on the
East; on the South she has extensive possessions
in the West Indies and on the continent; and she
occupies, to say the least an equvoca position on
ersing every sea, and Selling upon every advanta-
geous position, which is either unoccuped, or
whose possessor5 are too feeble to resist her en-
croachments; an American whaler can scarcely
bring off key of water, or a boatload of cocoa
nuts, from coral reef in the wide Pacific, without
paying tribute to the ouposts Of England. know,
indeed that she has disclamed that atrocious out
rage, the forcibe seizure of the sovereignty of the
Sandwich Islands, but have not yet heard, that
she has hung, at the yardarm of his own ship, the
pratcal lordling who perpetrated at. Sir, charge
not Great Britain with chershing dreams of wide
spread conquest or aiming at universal empire but
he must be blind, who does not that she is sri-
wing for no less prize than the control of the COM
inerce of the world. America too is ambitious. She
disputes with England the sovereignty of the north
eastern shore of the Pacific-we are rivals In the
same branches of trade, and the red cross and the
stars and stripes float side by side in every harbor
Of every sea. With all these points of contact,
dare we hope that we shall always escape coils
ion and is it wise to doff our armor while our adj
versary is lacing his helmet?
Sir, on this subject let me not be misunderstood.
No man can more cordially detest the practice, or
depore the necessity, of a resort to arms; none
can more deeply abhor the helsh passions the aw-
full crimes, that constitute the very being of war;
than myself and am not prepared to say, that
any, or even all, of the pending adjourned ques-
tons between us and Great Britain are worth
with angry and infammablc jealousy along the
whole frontier, and small spark may at any mo
ment kindle that finder to appalling flame
Thus situated hold it to be the part of wisdom
to foster and strengthen own resources, rather
than to cherish and reward the industry of the alien
and the stranger. But am wandering from the
subject, and will only pause to express nv sur
prise, that gentlemen of the South, who dread the
interference of England with Texan slavery, and
fear the contagion of her example in her West In
dla possessions, should yet advocate policy, which
necessarily implies much more intimate relations
with that formidable rival, and probable enemy
Destroy our manufactures, and subvert that revenue
system which has, from our national infancy been
the soul of finance, and we are at once pract-
caly reduced to a state of colonial dependence up
on our ancient oppressor. Sir, it was not for this
that our fathers fell at Bunker Hill, at Bennington,
and at Saratoga and that yours bit the dust in the
hundred partizan conflicts which, at later period
of the war of independence, dyed your sands with
the best blood of the South.
There is another point of far deeper, though less
obvious, interest than the question of revenue
the present pecuniary gain or loss to the consul
mer, and which is most worthy the profound consd-
GRAFTON of the philosophical statesman. I refer to
the influence of such manufactures as are carried
on by machinery upon the progress of mechanical
improvement and the consequent multiplication and
diffusion of both the physical comforts and elegan
couragements which inventive genius has received
at the hands of the manufacturer, is the principal
source of the astonishing advances that half cen
fury has witnessed in practical mechanics and ma
npuations;in the application Of science to the arts
and even in the progress and dissemination of the
physical sciences themselves.
The wants of the dyer, the bleacher, the sugar.
reiner, have led to curious Investigations and most
important results in scientific analysis; the neces-
sites of the mechanist have prompted Improvements
IN smelling, refining, casting, and forging metals
and to better knowledge of their ores, constitution
and properties the demands of British manufactures
are the parent of improvements in mining, miner
illogical research and geological science; to them
we owe the invention of the reciprocating steam
engine, and the introduction of railroads, by means
of all which, not only are all the operations of gov
eminent Immensely facilitated, but the convenient
ces OF life are so multiplied and cheapened, that
as has been well said, the humble cottager enjoys
more comforts than an emperor of Rome in the
days OF her greatest splendor. knowledge, too,
literally runs down the streets like a river The
-er press sends forth its sheets by thousands in
pow and books now cost less than did the pa
he hour, they are printed within the memory
per on winch 's House. These arts are en-
phatically the arts of pc. ali to cold these are
the means through whose aid alo. ..nrossoJ aoa
pist can hope to level up suffering, DE- nnlv the
debased humanity. Machinery must SUI. o' ~ sas
physical wants Of the INDECENT; the power p
must furnish the popular instructor with his text
book-the missionary with his bibles.
To the improvements in the mechanic arts we
have contributed our full share. We have then q
paternal interest, in their prosperity
To them we, of all the nations of the earth are
most deeply indebted, and from them we have most
to hope. Shall we lay the axe at the root of the
tree which has borne such noble fruits, and which
is still rich with the blossoms of future promise
What does not the South owe to the cotton gin and
the power loom? and what would now be the con-
dition. of that mighty West, TO which we have so
often appealed, without canals, railroads, and steam
boats, which derive both the motive and the means
Of their creation from the progress Of manufactures
Sir, she would still remain bowling wilderness,
inhabited only by savages and wolves and the game
on which they prey.
Sir, let us have no more idle speculation upon
the future consequences of the existing Tariff
Let it it be known by its fruits. Show what evil it
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