The northern galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1844-1848, 1844-07-17
CLAY g. POLK-NO DIFFERENCE

party has been recently playing, Has loiceO
them to resort to desperate expedients. Hav'
ing selected James X. Polk, rank Free
embody the principles Of the party, they now
unhestating throw off the mask of pretended
friendship for protection, openly avow that
they are for Revenue Tariff merely, and are
endeavoring to defend their position by insist
ing that James X. Polk and Henry Clay are
Siamese Twins whom upon this subject the
most astute observer cannot distinguish. And
yet the expounders of the democracy well
know, in common with every intelligent man
in the Union, that there is as much difference
between Polk and Clay in relation to the ia
riff, as between Turk and Christian, and
that while Mr.. Clay is ardently sustained,
as the very father of protection, Mr.. Polk has
been brought into the field by men who have
sworn eternal hostility to this horrid abomina-
ton, denouncing it as unconstitutional, and
warning against it even to menaces of disso-
luton Of the Union.
From the very commencement Of his ca
reer in Congress, protection has been written
in bold relief upon the very forehead of Mr..
Clay, nor has a single action of his life from
that day to this tended in the least degree to
obscure single line or dotof the inscription.
Even the Compromise Bill, as might have
been seen in former number Of our paper,
upon which his opponents have founded so
many Misrepresentation, shows still deep
er attachment to that great principle, which
more than all others has characterized his
public life, and well entities him to the glory
of being hailed for the time as the savior of
his country.
But how does the political history of James
X. Polk exhibit him in relation to protection
Opposed from the commencement his Of pO-
litical career. lie has lived in an anti-tarif
state, been sustained by anti-tariff men, and is
now presented to the people of this Union
for the highest Office in their gift, by the free
trade nullifers of the South as the last hope
which remains of crushing protection, and
securing Southern domination by the annex
alton of Texas or by disunion. The most
fragrant act of his uncompromising and dead
ly hostility to protection was uniting with the
Loco-foco Committee of Ways and Means in
1882 in reporting bill to sweep away the pro-
tective system, which Mr.. Verplank's bill,
reducing all to horizontal duty Of fifteen
per cent. would have consummated. During
every stage in the progress of this bill, MIR.
Polk was its warmest advocate, and in relation
to Wool, he insisted it should be admitted free.
Upon every incidental question he voted with
the advocates of free-trade, and would have
carried his point, had no: MIR. Clay found it
necessary to save the tariff from either an in
slant annihilation,& the country from civil war
the Compromise bill which secur-
ed ample protection for seven years, and even
at the worst, with cash duties and home val
uation would have been equal to thirty per
cent. ad valorem, more than MIR. Rays bill |
would have ensured, and double that of Mr.. |
yerplank which it defeated.
Besides it can no where be found, on rec
ord that Polk has ever expressed favorable
opinion of protection on any branch of north
srn industry.
And yet the opponents of Locofocoism in
Vermont think their ingenuity is equal to the
ask of deludiDg the people into the belief
hat there is no discrepancy between Mr.. Clay
md MIR. Polk in their views Of protection
How base and insulting to the well read peo-
de Of Vermont is this. Are the strenuous
md ardent friends of the tariff at the north so
ntirely stark mad, that for thirty long years
hey have placed the the most unbounded
confidence in Mr.. Clay as the champion of
American industry, and found every action of
lis public life conforming to his professions,
nd yet he is no better protectionist than
ames K. Polk. the advocate Of Is per cent.
duties, and for the very reason
hat for ten years past he has been the open
I avowed out and out foe to projections now
tarted for the presidency by the moststaunch
nd indomitable free traders of the South.
acked by the Rerenue Tariff merely dough-
ices of the locofocracy of the North.
Having thus tested in a general view the
cts of Mr.. Clay and Mr.. Polk in relation to
rejection, we might place in contrast the
thousand and one expressions of opinion each
as made upon various occasions upon this
inject. We have however, too often done
MS to make a repetition interesting.
But there is another test of orthodoxy upon
rejection which no human ingenuity can
ude. The Wings approve the present tariff
J affording efficient protection. The locos
ir,and would reduced it to stan
ard which would render it worthless, except
If revenue. Henry Clay has uniformly ap-
roved g. ]. X. Polk as uniformly condemned
, on the same grounds which have been as
lmed by the parties to which they are attach
J. All agree that the present tariff is work
g wonders for the prosperity of the country.