The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1844-03-28
March 90, 1914.

consequence 10 the evidence you haze in
troduced, let us for moment examine it
You have called but two witnesses, and
these are William H. Seward and the
author of The life of Henry Clay. Can you
deny that both of these are interested wit
nesses? The first is not only strong
partizan of Mr. Clay,-ready, on any occa-
sion, to make stump speech in his favor
but the very speech of his, from which you
furnish an extract, was made at an excited
Wing meeting for the mere purpose of
eleclioneering. You might, with equal
propriely, quote the ipse dirit of any noisy
demagogue made at any political club
meeting in the Union. And what would
be still better, you might prove your case at
once, by quoting from the Address of the
State Committee those very paragraphs the
truth of which is now in issue between US !!
Your other witness is the author of the
Life of Henry Clay. Who that author is,
it is impossible TO tell, as he has prudenlly
withheld his name. Whether he be Geo.
D. Prentiss, Calvin Cotton, or some other
inscriptions supporter of Henry Clay it is
unnecessary to inquire. There seems to be
some half dozen different lives and biogra-
phies of Henry Clay, all issued from the
leading Wing presses, within year or two,
for The express purpose of promoting his
election. They are published and recon-
mended 10 Clay Clubs along with the
'Junius' Tracts and Wing Almanacs.
These, then, are the disintereSted wit
nesses you introduce 10 US. You might
easily have swelled The list to any desirable
number, and proved that your party enter
lained almost any principle, or no principle
at all! For
You can want no witnesses
10 sw ear to anything you please,
Who scarcely get the 'LoAvEs OR FISHES,
BY the labor Of their conScienceS!"
AS you, and your party, profess TO be
Abolitionists you will no doubt thank me
for calling your attention to the following
certificate of the good standing OF VIM. H.
Seward in our ranks, which will stamp,
with the weigh, of authority, anything you
may see fit to quote from his writings or
speeches. 1t comes from Mr.. Rogers, a
Wing member of Congress from N. York,
and one Of Mr.. Stewards Warmest friends.
Mr. R. remarked, but few days ago, in
the House, in reply to Mr.. Hammet of
Mississippi, that
I" 1t was a fact notorious 10 the whole |
nation he had almost said - 10 the whole !
northern portion of the Union, that Gov. !
Seward when a candidate for the Guberna |
,orial Chair of N. York had been addressed
upon the subject of abolirionism by the |
Abolrionists, and that he had returned a
fat dissent from all the common principles |
of their creed. Il - Aud he |
doubted very much whether William H. !
Seward had ever received any portion OF
the abolition vote of the State OF N. York"
On the subject of the tariff, currency,
public lands, restraints on Executive power
and ineligiblity of the President to re-
election for second term, the Wing Stale
Committee, Gov. Seward and Henry Clay
have all defined the position of the Wing
party. And it seems that, ON all these, you
claim identity of principle with Washing
ton and Jefferson.
First-the Tariff. AT seven distinct pc
RODS, during Washington's administration,
the subject of the Revenue and Taxation
was warmly and fully discussed, but not IA
word was said about protective tariff
Even the term is not 10 be found in the
authentic history Of that administration.
Revenue was the object, and, with one
exception, the only object. But for the
purpose of paying the debts and supplying
the wants of government a difference o.
opinion arose as to the proper mode of
obtaining this whether by direct
or incidental taxes - whether by internal
duties or by an imposl on foreign importa-
tions. Alexander Hamilton, and the party
in Congress most zealously supporting
Washington's administration, sustained the
policy of what was then termed the 'odious
erciSe' on domestic distilled spirlts-a tax
on wine licenses, on sales at auction, pleas
ure carriages and horses, on snuff, and on
sugar; being expressly an internal tax on
articles raised and manufactured IN the U.
States. Protection by taxing yourselves.
And this, Sir is The kind of tariff 10 which
you and your party claim affinity, and put
yourselves on the country for trial! The
duty on foreign tonnage in 1889 operated TO
increase American navigation, but this was
expressly admitted 10 injure the farmer,
being a tax on the transportation of his
produce.