The Ohio Democrat. [volume] (Canal Dover, Ohio) 1840-1900, 1844-05-16
HENRY CLAY
... AND
THE LABORING MILLIONS,
BY AMOS KENDALL.


The por Settler GSd'49Iea BanhrapI-s1e cOrking For
cigars and the foreign Bankers-black Slaves ana
qrhitc Sauss-LabOrers deb0Sed 10 baiid up Lords
In our No. 7, we have shown that in 1885, when Me
bill to grant preempon rights to settlers on the Public
Lands was ubder discussion, Henry Clay called those
people lalvlcss rabe" and said they might as well
seize forts and arscnal ships al sea- and money in
The Treasury, characerizing them as THIEVES, ROBBERS
and PIRATES, if he did not call them So So outraged
was his moral sense and lawabidng ZEAL that he would
have had the REGULAR ARMY employed to pull
down their log cabins and drive them from their i'm
provements at the point of the bayonet
AT that time, there atleast ten thousand of these
settlers in Iowa alone twenty thousand in Wisconsin
Illinois, and Missouri and probably ten thousand more
in Indiana, Michigan, and The other new States, max
ing about FORTY THOUSAND MEN, WOMEN
AND CHILDREN. Most of these people very very
poor but instead Of begging stealing or living by
their Wits they had settled unoccupied public lands
built log cabins, cut off the wood ploughed up the SOIL
enclosed felds and With their families were "eating
their bread in the sweat Of their faces" Moral indus
trous and puhctal, enerprisihg fearless and faithful
all they had was the Improvements they had made with
their own hands, and all they wanted was the privilege
buying the soil they had improved at the Land Office
price. Such with some exceptions were the men whom
that "5eggar on horseback 'he Mill boy of the Slash
es" denounced thieves and robbers, worthy only of
being driven from their homes with their wives and chi
dren pennyess and houseless, in dreary wilderness,
full of savage beasts and savage meh
But what said "tte Mil boy" when the RUFFLED
| ANKRTrDC in ,ho &
hand to plough plane type or trowel, awl or ANVIL
who ate the bread U others made raised money by bor
rowing or gambling, lost at his game OF speculation
chance and asked leave TO wipe out old scores and be-
gin again3 A part of Mr.. Clay's grand "Whig Sys-
tenn" at the Extra Session Of lS4l, was Law to pay
the debts Of these gentry and turn them loose try their
luck at ne# race ofspeetation idleness, dissipation
and luxury, attRe expense of the laboring Millions
Thepeope Of Kentucky did not like this mode of pay
ing debts and cheating hottest men, and rising up al
most TO man. through ther Legislature demanded of
their Senators and Representatives in Congress- repeal
fthe law before it went into operation What said
Mr. Clay then one of their Senator's on whose vote the
repeal dependedl Htar his 6$n words, as reported and
revised under his own supervision in the National In
telgencer and thd Globe, viz:
"Ahd %hen is 1t that we ate called upon to retrace
steps, ad to sbver the whole system of benefcent
measures adopted at the extra Session. by beginning
with the fepealofthe bankrupt law and ending with that
ofhe law for THE distribution of the proceeds of the pub
lie andsl Three days only before the commencement
of the operation of the bankrupt law"
"Tfeit condition he bankr6pts) resembles that Of in
nocent and unfortunate men, long and unus incarce
rated in the dark walls Of jail Its door is halfopen;
they are rishing towards il, PALE ehaciaed and ex-
hausted the light Of heaven has once more beamed up
on their haggad taces and once more ,hey begin to
breathe tie Cool and pure air OF an uncontamnated at
mostphere AT this instant qrtime, the sehate is called
Upon to drive them back to their gloomy and loahsome
cells and to fling back that door upon its grating hing
es And am invited to unite in his work Of ihhuian-
y and cruelty! | have not the heart 10 do i'll have
not the hand to do it cannot, will not do il!
And Ec dia not do it. and by his vote the law was sa
ved and thousands of honest creditors cheated out of
their dues
No. Henry Clay had not the heart or the hand 10 pre-
vent he gentleman in &oadcloaA artO Tired achoa3 work
the speculaor the gambler, and The rogue, from pay
ing their debts by bankrupt law but he would have
driven from their no mes, h0u5dads 6 G& IN their Ant
ing Shirts ,cho 1roJk r their Hpng, and never contract
debt viii th they do not pay! The idle bankrupt is
AN INCARCERATED INNOCENT: the uOrking
settler IS A THIEF AND A ROBBER!
Such are tie predictions and preferences Of "the
Mill Boy of the Slashes."
But Henry Clay's preference for the 6rd over the Ia
boy is stfikihgy exhibited by another branch of this
subject We have seen him vote thrice against extend
ing preempon rights 10 foreigners not naturalized.
He not only voted against them bit he spoke On the
9th January, 1888, upon tie amendment Of Mr.. Mer-
rick Of Maryland to exclude foreigners not naturalzed
from preempt6h rights, Henry Clay sad:-
"This domain was the public propery-the property
hewhole people Of the United sta,es and he thanked
the Senator from Maryland fof ntr6dutihg proposi
ton for conferrig the bounty Of the Government on our
own race instead of holding out general Invitation to
all epaupers Of all the European governments to come
here and compete with otf own honest poor" And fur
lIther:
OButhe honorable Senator from Pennsy lVania (Mr.
Buchanan has alluded eulogiscaly 70 foreigners
Does he mean 10 compare the De Kalbs, the steubens,
the Layfayees the PulasEs with the hordes OF foreign
Epaupers that are constantly flooding our shores?"
h
He thought this government had been quite as liberal
in its policy towards foreigners as was proper or desra
BILE; and no Senator would vote against the proposition
tof the Senator from Maryland with more pleasure than
Eihe should vote for IL"
l On the 29tf JaMnary hesaid: - -