Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1845-08-22
PROTECTIVE POLICY AS EXEM-
PLIFIED IN THE TARIFF OF 1870.

PLIFIED IN THE TARIFF OF 1870.
With proper exertion on our part, there is
reasonable ground Of expectation, that this
great BULwARK OF OUR INTERESTS will sur
vive the shock il is destined to encounter !;
wiihout.such effort its overthrow is morally
certain.
But there is still pending before the nation
another great question, less important, no
doubt, in its immediate results, but of far
greater moment in its ultimate bearing on
the great BULwARK OF OUR LIBERTIES, the
Federal Constitution. You will of course
understand that we refer to the annexation
of Texas. The history Of our country has
no page so black as that which records the
story of this nefarious scheme Never did
our government so openly set at defiance all
law, human and divine, so treacherOusy be-
tray the rights of friendly and confdng ma
ton, so shamefnlly disregard the rules Of in
ternational comfy, as in the conception and
promotion Of this crying and monstrous
wrong. Never have men in high places
manifested such weakness, tergiversaion
and venaliiy, as in this fragrant outrage,
which is destined to expose us to the univer-
sal contempt of the christian world, aud if
not to provoke the thunders of foreign war,
at least to excite aud feed anew the flames
of vet more rancorous and destructive inter
nal discussion amongst ourselves. What
particular shape this unhappy question will
assume, cannot now he foreseen, and of
course the position Of Vermont in regard TO
il cannot at present be determined but this
much is clear, it will be her duty and that
of all to whom her interests are intrusied, TO
oppose the consummation ofthis great mystic
ry ofiniqnity, by every legal and constitu-
tional means of resistance
There is another great subject to which,
both because Of its increasing and almost
Overshadowing Importance, aud its near con-
nection with the principal topics to which
we have already referred, especially to that
which we have just dismissed, we think it
our duty to call your attention, although we
have no specific action TO recommend con-
corning it. 1t is not here the place to dis
cuss the ethics of slavery, the lawfuness of
the relation of master and slave, the extent
of the right which one human being may
have over the labor or being of another or
the moral or even economical influences OF
this system upon the communities where it
exists Nor, however well we are agreed
with you in thinking slavery TO be both NOR
ally and economically a wrong and an evil,
have we any word or invecIive OF Ieproach
for those who are blindly staggering under
a burden which they cannot bear, and nei-
ther will not dare shake Off If they are too
proud to desire our commiseration, at least
we will not envy their condition, and when
ever they shall be aroused TO truer sense
of their duty and their better interests, they
will receive our most earnest sympathy, aud
most liberal and energetic aid. But howev-
er unjust or unwise this constitution may be
in its essential features, you are responsible
neither for its origin nor for its continued
existence within those limits to which your
constitutional power does not extend. Nor
is it our place to affirm or deny that you are
bound to moral influence upon this sub
iect 1t is only in reference TO your po-
Hticdt duties that we are at liberty to adj
dress you; and though no grounds of poltl-
cal or private expediency can justify you in
doing that which is morally wrong, yet your
action as politicians is hedged in by limits
which you cannot, and ought not, overstep.
The federal constitution makes the govern
ment OF each State supreme in itself, and on
" provides that its form shall be republican
Each Stata ihan .nay limit aud nrescrihe The
rights, both civil and political of all It's citi-
zens; and though widely different in degres
the exercise of power whereby ace limit and
deny political rights TO women, minors and
trapslent persons, is, politically speaking,
the same in kind as that by which South
Carolina excludes the African from all polit-
ical franchises and all civil rights. The Con.
stilution gives you no more power over sla-
very in other States, than it does over the
rights belonging to any of the domestic III
stItutions aud you are just as incompetent
to abolish, limit or modify tile powers of the
southern master over his slave, as you are
to de6ne the rights of the southern parent
over the person or services of his child.
So long then as slavery confines itsel
within its Legitimate territorial limits, it il
not subject for the political or Legislative
action ofthe free States But when it over
steps those bounds, aud claims to be consld
cred National Institution, and you are re
CURED TO assent TO its extension, and the EN-
argemeni of the guarantees by which it i
pretended that the Federal Constitution
sanctions its existence, then, at least its pc
iticai bearings come fairly within your juris
diction. We cannot here discuss the ques
ton of constitutional guaranty, and mus
content ourselves, while we admit that tn
Constitution does recognize slavery as law
fully existing within the limits ofsuch ofth
States as chose TO allow it, with simply de
nying that j, is adopted as National Insti
tuition, or that the government or people o
the Union are in any way pledged to it
maintenance or support. Nay, so far wer
the trainers of the Constitution from suppo