Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1848-08-31

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Democrats the issue was fairly made in
the Presidential election of that year, and
with the exception of enlightened Pennsy-
vania, which sustained Mr. Polk as tariff
man, the vote of every Northern Demo-
cratic State was given to the nominee of the
Baltimore Convention, expressly as the a
postle of annexation aud upon the final
vote in Congress, every Northern Democrat
ic Senator, and every Northern Democratic
Representative, save three, recorded his
suffrage in favor of this great wrong.
On the other hand, it should never be
forgotten, that the Southern Wings as
body, and with very few exceptions, in re-
ssting, in spite Of sectional prejudice, and
the denunciations of majority of their im-
mediate fellow citizens, a policy which,
though speciously recommended by consid-
erations of local advantage, they held to be
a violation of national right, and sacrifice
of national interest, exhibited. to their ever
lasting honor, generosity, an incorrupti-
bic irmness, and degree ofpolitical virtue,
of which the North, unhappily, has given
but few examples
But does not this question involve some
considerations Of fairness and duty to the
!
cy of this government to strengthen the
slaveholdng, at the cost of the free States
Have we not yielded every doubtful ques-
ton of title upon the Northern frontier, and
insisted on every semblance Of claim upon
1.-The Southern border Is it not notorious,
that the war of 1912, though declared by
us, was waged solely as defcnsice war, lest
aggressive operations should result in
strengthening the free States by the conquest
of Canada! Would the treaty of Washing
ton, so wisely negotiated by Webster, have
been sanctioned by Southern President, if
it had been a Southern, instead of free
State, whose claims were compromised =
Why was our claim to Northern Oregon so
readily relinquished Was it because Mr..
Polk thought our title up to $40 40, which
he surrendered without an equivalent, less
clear than the right of Texas to the valley
Of the Rio Grande, to sustain which, he en-
gagged in war, in defiance of all the forms
of the Constitution? Was it because he be-
lieved Vancouver's Island, the noble har-
bors, and all the fertile territory North OF
40 degrees, less valuable than the stupen-
dous deserts between the Nucces and the
Rio Bravol Was it because he held wal
with powerful England unlawful, but with
+puny Mexico, praiseworthy No sir; il
twas because he and his advisers sought tC
clip the wings of the North, and plume the
pinions of the South And yet this was pa
tientIy borne.
The constitution was shamelessly tram
pied under foot, and the blacklist and mos
gigantic scheme of political corruption, tina
ever disgraced free people,, was organized
to sustain Southern ascendancy by the an
nexaton of Texas. And this has been pa
tently borne. An unjust aud disgracefu
war has been waged with sister republic
national debt incurred, that will hang lik
a milestone upon the necks of our chldre
for half century, and thousands of live
sacrificed by pestilence and the sword, t.
crafty the ambition of Southern prlze-fght
ers and politicians. This, too, has been pa
tently borne; and after all this, | ask, is
fair to insist that the paltry indemnity
which we have received for all this loss @
treasure and blood and honor shall enure +
the exclusive benefit of the SOUTH So ia
as Slavery already exists beneath the egi
of your State constitutions, we seek not T.
interfere with it. We leave its abolition, o
its maintenance, to your own conscience
and the suggestions of your enlightened
self-nterest but we must not, and will not
be asked to aid you in extending it; in fore
ing upon free soil a curse, which you hav
often complained, that the cupidity of tn
mother country, in your age of colonial de
pendence, forced upon you.
Upon this point, the North is no longe
to be reasoned with. 1t has, to use a par
liamentary phrase, moved and sustained tn
previous question, and its will can be de
ieated only by the same means of congres
sional corruption, by which the annexato
of Texas was effected. The people of tn
North cannot again be hoodwinked or ca
ioled, and, as | believe and trust, they ar
prepared to do what they ought to have don
when that great outrage was perpetrated-
namely, to resist, to every extremity, an
by all the lawful means, that God and ma
ture have put into their hands.
!, There is a class of Northern politician
who seek every opportunity OF parading thel
obsequious subseryiency to the will of tn
South, and their contempt for the sectiont
interests of their own people; who prele
Presidential candidates pledged to ultr
Southern interests and policy, and who, ha
inc CHOICE Oh INC ldtC bditiHloiC No"'Si'''
fallen upon Slater and Williams, would hav
, hailed the nomination with as unhesitatn
, devotion as they have that of Cass and But
, Ter. Such men abound in every democrat
ic State; in frozen New England, in tn
fertile West, throughout the middle States
, and whenever the occasion Of Souther
gentlemen demand curb for Northern free
dom of action and speech, in the shape OF
The most important Congress on the question
annnx alton, as follows;
n The 18Th of March, 1874, Mr. Winthrop moved tho 10
Iou,ing resolution Ia the House of Representatives;
Resolved That proposition for the annexation OF Ios'
10 tho United States ought TO be made, assepted to,
this government.
Upon the question Of suspendng the rules for the purpo
OF receiving the resolution ~
Eoery N0nhefn and three Southern Wing members, wit
three Democrats ony( Messrs X. d. LAWS, Potter and j.
Wrgul voted IN tho affirmative,
Euerv Democrat (exccpt abovol including Messr
Barnburnes, with fifteen Southern wings, voted in the NO
alive. a, IN
On tho ilth of June, lsi4 amer the rejection of Mr. T.
eGs Treaty by the Senate, the President sent
message tho House of Representatives. urging that poo
to take immediate steps towards euetng the object VINE
= he had failed TO accomplish by treaty. 49, a,
Win view of preventing any action on the sngeet,
John p. Kennedy, Southern whs moVed 10 lay Tue e'H
mnnicaton on the tablo. e.,
Upon this question: every whig member, win the exec
on of Southern gentlemen, voted IN inc hmrnaliV
eperV member, NoIthsn as wel a. souhsIh,
GLIDING Mosss. Bnkcrhof, r. D. Davis, haulin, Prest
C King, Norris aud Rathbun, voted In tho negative.