New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1847-11-12


clsred. at Herkiner and elsewhere, that the sum
Of their Political aspirations il comprised IN these
four phrases Free Trade, Free Speech, Free
Labor Free Sol.
Now as 10 the first Of these we cannot and prob
ably never shall agree with them. Trade, or the
exchange Of commodities is, within certain limits,
general good bat il does not follow that all man
ner Of Trade, under all possible circumstances is
or would be so. Indeed. we are confident that
Trade not only may be but IS pushed 10 excess :
that far too many are engaged in and subsisted by
il and that it would be decidedly well for mankind
If the temptations to look to Traffic as means OF
acquiring wealth or sustenance were diminished or
more efectually counteracted. What may be in
some possible state Of Society we do not judge;
but in the actual world we inhabit we do not be-
licye that giving freer rein to the natural prefer
encc Of mankind TO grow rich by exchanging others
products rather than TO produce something them
selves would be benefcent- On the contrary, we
believe that Governm cnt might wisely and useful
ly for all interpose 10 diminish the proportion oil
those who now live by exchanging instead OF pro
ducing. The class il necessary, the world being
what IL is bat it is not necessary that third oil
the capital Of the practical talent and large pro
portion Of the numerical force OF community should
be absorbed by it, The needful and benetcent ex
changes Of products can be performed or procured
at much smaller cost, and when the world shall
have become wiser they will be And that mean
time a nation may and often does njure itself by
buying abroadorticles nominay cheaper than they
could be afforded by those able and willing to pro-
duce them within its own borders we cennot doubt.
Our conviction is based facts too numerous to be
Explained away and too pertinent 20 be gainsayed
But we were intending to speak at this time
Of Free Soil Free Speech. Free Labor Free
Soil all good and worthy TO be struggled Tor, yet
we think the greatest wealth Of unexhausted mean
ing lies in the last Have the choice spirits who
gathered ut Herkimer last month well considered
il? Are they fully resolved on striving not merely
for the name Of Free Soil but for the essential
M,ag2 We shall see.
Great Britain, we know, boasts of the Freedom
inseparabe from her Soil. Slaves cannot breathe
in England said one of her poets years ago the
moment their feet touch her soI their shackles iai
1--we have forgotten the words, but that is the
idea) Glorious boast empty reality There are
millions of the most wretched slaves who were
born and still linger ON that soil dragging their
weary steps TO gsunt and haggard death-beds oil
.anine and despair. They do breathe In Eng
land and that il as much az they can do They
were once able and willing to labor those who
will in few years take their places are now so
Labor is nowhere more effective than in Britain,
and her Soil produces almost beyond parallel. But
that Soil is not really free to the mass OF those
who labor upon it it is the exclusive prope-ty 81
~ and
ants of the cutthrosts of the Eleventh Century
or the usurers OF the Eighteenth For these and
theirs the mass must toll end groan through hun
CRY. weary, miserable lives, paying two-thirds Of
the fair product of their labor for the use Of place
TO labor ON and of implements. Call It Rent
Shares, Wages, Purchase, 1t comes to the same In
the end. The few roll in hurtful idleness and
sumptuous luxury the many toll in gnawing wan,
and cheerless degradation because the. though
the Land il free as the noble White Mans Reso
luton can make it, it is not free as God made
il when He gave Man the dominion Of the Earth
commanding him in the sweat Of his face to eat
bread; no, free AZ the Law given by Moses made
that portion OF II 20 which that Law applied
not free as the whole earth must and will be when
Landholding 10 limited and regulated by laws
having for their object the greatest happiness OF
the greatest number Had Great Britain enjoyed
the benefit Of law providing that person should
own at one time, Tor for more than one year in case
OF an excess being bequeathed to him. more II al
q square mile OF arabic soil. we believe Starvation
would be wholly and Psuperism nearly unknown
among her able bodied people, whilo w ant OF En
ployment would be an inconsidershle evil to VIII,
or. ~ !,
now perysde the British lsles to an extraordinary
extent hundreds OF thousands of able-bodied work
ers would gladly find employ ment at sixpence to q
shilling per day yet there is abundance Of work
that should be done, and which would be richly To
warded by the increased production OF every sac
ceeding year. But the soil which needs imprw
ment to render it productive belongs to one q
the labor il the only property orresource OF sno her
and this noble duke is embarrassed by his orme
VI present extravaganza and cannot afford =. dolla
for the improvement of his estate; that wealth,
eommoner Is building aiamily mansion, WI ich over
taxes his carren, income; and the next alfcount,
belongs to some child or youth, now A wand IL
chancery and all improvement must avail, her n,s
ior.ty while hundreds Of landlords have hssn =, \,
Gated in such gross ignorance Of their datie. ana p,
probabilities, and have lived In scch reckless a "a,
vicious disregard Of them, that they do no, kp, v
whether their lands ought TO &c improved or no,
and have scarcely bestowe1 thought on the s,,t
iect So millions Of acres lie waste that ought 10 q
since to have esen reclaimed and cultivated; q a
thousands after thousands Of people iamish, " b
would have found ample employment and al
tensnce bus for the nurderous Monopoly OF the s u
Even now, the alarm is sounding that Ireland
on the verge Of another general famine, in spite
the general abundance Of the harvest, and all m a
ner OF projects for the relief or mitigation Of Oh
approaching calamity are eagerly listened to I''
the radical cure Of the evil, by securing to eise
Irish peasant some spot Of bis native soil to DR. a
his support from that is hardy mentioned in in fl
eptial quarters How many Of the great and pow
snul have considered that Ireland produced mol