Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1844-10-11

clay as the only means OF peTpetuatn9 slavery
We have not room, ofcourse, for the whole of this
Tract, but will give such extracts from it as will
enable the public to understand its character and
objects. ltcommences thus -
THE SOUTH IN DANGER.
READ BEFORE YOU VOTE.
address Of the Democratic Association of flashing
ton d. c.
There never was period when the South was
in so much danger as at this moment. To procure
the Abolition vote for Henry Clay, will show
that the Wing party of the North, their leading
presses, legislative bodies, and statesmen have de-
nounced the South, they have held up slavery as a
crime, they have promised a speedy union to effect
its overthrow with the Abolitoniss, and have JOIN
ed with them in holding up the South to obliquy
and reproach. The means used by this new coali.
ton represent the people Of the South to
their sister States and to the world as dsgraced &
degraded by the institution of slavery, and I'M
worthy of Christian COMMUNION and social inter
course. Already this demoniac feeling has dlssolv-
cd the Methodist Church, and the other American
Churches are threatened with a similar fate. The
object is to taboo The South to render infamous,
to put the mark Of Cain upon our forehead, and to
deprive US of character first as the means Of de-
spelling us of our property afterwards. Men ofthe
South, the effort Is to disgrace and degrade you
and your children forever. That such party eX
lists in the North is conceded. They denounce you
steaers, as robbers flesh jobbers, slave
breeders, as convicts criminals, vile and infa
nous, as unworthy OF Christian or social commun-
ion, and, finally, as existing only by sufferancc
part of the Union Now if, as we shall demon.
strate, the party which thus denounces the South is
courted by the Wing party Of the North, if they are
assured, as we shall show by the Wings of the
North that their views are identical with those of
the Abolitionists that they are only using different
means to accomplish the same object, and that the
abolition ofslayery will be more certainly effected
by the election of Clay than that Of Birncy surely
you cannot continue united as a party with the
wings of the North, who thus join with your enc
mics to'dsgrace and degrade you.
They then proceeded to show that John Quincy
Adams Daniel Webster, William II. Seward,
William Slude, George N. Briggs, Truman Smith,
Christopher Morgan, John Mattocks, John Reed
and other distinguished Wings who support Henry
Clay, oppose the Annexation of Texas to the I'M
ion upon the ground that the extension and perpe
tuity of Slavery is sought to be thus accomplished.
They refer also, to the fact of the Wing Legisa
ture of Massachusetts and Vermont "adopting Res
outions against the Annexation upon the very
strongest Abolition and Anti-Slayery grounds
They then say =
"The doctrine of the Wing Legislatures of the
|
that the saveholding States are not fit associates
for the free States of the North; and Mr.. Clay a
| dopts upcquivocally these resolutions, by giving
them an inscparable objection to the annexation.
And now how stands the case !? By the last CEN
sus, the North has 135 Representatives in Congress
and the south but Sc, being majority of AZ in fa
vor of the North, which is still increasing at every
census. The Senate is still equally divided, but
Wisconsin and Iowa are both to be admitted as free
Safes and if Florida were admitted at the same
time, it would make majority against us in the
Senate The only hope of the South, then, is in the
annexation of Texas which would give the South a
ajority in the Senate whilst the North maintain.
ed its prcponderance in the House, and thus give
ehactual security to the South, and greatly tend to
i preserve and perpetuae the Union which with the
growing spirit of abolition in the North, would be
greatly endangered by giving to the North the un-
restrained majority in both Houses of Congress-
| Even if Mr.. Clay not opposed to annexation,
the whole wing party of the North are, and their
success would be the defeat of anneXation what
ever the views of Mr. Clay might be-"
Here is an open, distinct avowal that the Annex
alton of Texas is demanded for the purpose of Sc
curing Slave ascendency in the Senate of the U.
States. Mr.. Van Buren, discarded candid
ate for President, and Mr.. Polk nominated to effect
this object. And now the Saveholding States are
called upon to c,nsumate the scheme Will the
people of the Free States assist in elecng Pres
idcnt thus thrust upon them
The Washington Association then proceed to
show that Mr.. Clay, like Patrick Henry, Thomas
Jefferson and James Madison, regards slavery as
National evil and looks forward, as those ilustri-
Gus Statesmen and Philanhropists did, to its ulti-
mate Abolition. Upon this point they say -
In the life of Mr. Clay, by his confidential friend
and chosen biographcr, Mr.. Prentice, Of Louisville
he says:-"e (Mr. Clay has been the slaves friend
through life. In all stations has he pleaded the
cause of African freedom, without fear from hi I'll oil
low To him, more than TO any other individual
: is owing the great revolution which has taken
place on this subiect-a revolution whose wheels
must continue to move onward until they reach the
goal ofuniyersal freedom" He also endeavoret
to discover Kentucky from the South, by proposing
10 insert in her Constitution a clause for the pros
pectiye eradication of slavery from the State by
means of gradual emancipation OF those held II
bondage See his life by his friend Epes Sargent
a PIP. 3, 46. Where the South would have been witt
Kentucky against them on the question OF abol
tion let the present posture OF affairs, and the e
f vents of the last few years answer. Nor has Mr.
a Clay changed his opinion on this subject, for he
Il would not only take Kentucky, but Virginia also
r. from the South, and leave them a feeble and de
: fenceless minority. In his speech Of the goth Jan
1927, in the Hall of the House of Representatives
Mr. Clay d,-"If could be instrumental in e
# Indicating Slavery this deepest stain upon thu
Il character of our country and removing all cause
- reproach on account oft by foreign nations if
. could only be instrumental in Kidding of this fou
t blot from that reyered State VA that gave mt
BIRTH or that not less beloved State which kindly
|, adopted me as her son, | would not exchange thu
proud satisfaction which should enjoy for the hon
or Of all the triumphs ever decreed to the most sue
n cessiul conquercr."-Page 1896 In his speech II
J. the Senate on the 9th ofMarch, 1896, recorded il
Gales g. Seaton's Register of Debates, vol. II par
= ], page 7e6, Mr.. Clay said ;-"Iie conended, that
/ as neither Virginia nor Maryland, nor both combin
= ed, could abolish slavery in the District of Colum
a bm, the power, without limitation or restriction
+ in the Senate January II, 1885, sMr. Clay though
the Senator FROM South Carolina, would not de
F. clare that it would be unconstitutional tor Congress
s. to abolish slavery IN the District or Territories" p
Rnt Tho SnnnInr from Snnih lnrnlIna did DENY th