The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1848-03-09

- W i0elotaHCc scattered ana dispersed. W ma
l. IN small republics, is the safeguard of the
n hoertles-the distribution Of power throue
n multitude Of Jurisdictions and department
> becomes in greater commonwealth an er
= glne Tor their overthrow, whenever increase
VI and widely difuscd patronage enables til
+ Executive to control those Jurisdictions.
= The States have neither fleets nor armies
f and though the ordinary militia of singl
: one Of them might set at defiance the who!
t military force which it has hitherto been Gu
policy 10 maintain, yet it does not follow tia
the increased armies and navics which on
contemplated expansion will oblge US to keel
on foot may rot enable an ambitious Presi
. dent to establish q military despotism; and
: as in ancient Rome, the soltiiery raised t
, protect the frontier may supersede your cleo
toral colleges, ana impose upon you Dicta
tor, who shall supersede your Constitution
and yonr laws. Even now, tokens of ev
aigury may be discerned. The legions Of
Pennsylvania have cast their SURFACES in
Mexico. The ballotbox has become part
OF the furniture Of the camp, and the com
mander, whom military law invests with the
power Of life and death, issues his orders for
The " free election of the civil magistracy OF
a State, to whose jurisdiction neither he nor
his troops are longer ameuabic.
When the sol! of an independent country
is sufficiently wide, and its climate sufficiently
genial, to supply its population with the car
dnal necessaries of human life, and reasonable
means Of exchange with foreign lands-when
its physical power is adapted to its defence
against invasion and aggression, and when its
rights to an equal position among civilized
communities are recognized, it possesses all
the necessary elements Of true prosperity, and
nothing is gained by further decrease of
power or extension Of territory. This point
we reached long since. Indeed, our original
limits fulfilled all the necessary conditions Of
national prosperity, and much doubt wheth-
er VIC should not at this moment have occu
| pied higher place among the nations Of the
earth than we now enjoy, if we had been
content with the inheritance Our wise fathers
devised to us. We had a territory, such, in
position and CONFEDERATION, that it was wholly
inyuuerabIe from without, and at the same
time so sulted as to give us the most enviabe
facilities for universal commerce, as well as
for maritime power; we enjoyed a boundless
variety Of soil, climate, and natural produc-
tions an extent Of surface adequate to the
sustenance of larger population than any
kingdom Of Europe, and yielding the most
abundant materials for industrial elaboration,
the most plentiful means Of commercial eX-
change. What more than this has earth to
offer to social man? sl.al! not dispute the
wisdom Of the acquisition of Florida and cas-
tern Louisiana. The latter seemed neccssa-
ry, as a means OF providing an outlet for the
products Of the teeming West, especially in
the day when canals and railroads had not
yet furnished Il better means Of transport to
the ocean than that famous river, which is
{" frozen for three months in the year, and
dry the remaining nine" or even than that
Finland sea-" whose snags and sawyers are
more formidable to navigators than the Libyan
Syrtes, or the rock and whirlpool Of old
Scylla and Charybdis; but / am not able to
see wherein the lot of any American has been,
or is likely to be, improved by further eX-
panslon. | cannot conceive that the val.
ue Of plantations in the old Southern States
will be increased, by throwing into mar
ket the cotton and sugar lands Of Texas that
the price Of Genessee -four will be raised by
competition with the vast grain-growing re-
gion between the Mississippi and the Rocky
Mountain desert; or that the commerce Of
New Y ort, and Philadelphia, and Baltimore,
and Charleston, will profit by the transfer Of
the China trade to the Bay of San Francisco,
or the mouth Of the Columbia. There is at
least no present necessity of extension for the
accommodation Of our growing population, or
for any purpose Of national trade or national
defence; and it would, therefore, be worse
than idle to wage useless and guilty war,
to conquer fer postcrty territory which it
will be quite able to secure for itself by hon.
est means, whenever it may require it.
lam sceptcal in regard to the exact truth
ofthe glowing descriptions we have heard and
read of the physical advantages of Oregon
and California. But if they, indeed, are what
they are represented to be, they well may,
and no doubt will. one day form Il separi te
contederacy. They are rapidly filing up
with American cmigrants, and they will soon
be strong enough to maintain themselves as
an independent people. They will sympa-
thize with our institutions, and adopt our
form Of government, but they can never have
common interest with us, and the mutual
good of all parties will demand that all politi-
cal bonds between them and us should be
severed Why, then, persevere in this I'M
profitable struggle, to acquire what cannot
long be ours to enjoy?
But what evidence is there that the pos
session of New Mexico, or California, how.
ever permanent, can be attained with any
solid advantages to the people Of this country?
They are separated from us by sterile an!
arid deserts, or chains of lofty and almost
impossible mountains. They yield no natu'
raj products of commercial value which our
own soil does not abundantly supply. They
are described by the best informed explorers
as being, in the main, unsuited to agriculture,
unable to sustain dense population, adapt
ed only TO the lowest form of semi-eivlized
lle-the pastoral state. And, above all, they
are inhabited by a mixed population, of habits,
opinions, and characters incapable OF sympa-
thy or assimilation with our own; race,
whom the experience of an entire generation
has proved to be untitled for selt-governmcnt,
and unprcpared to appreciate, sustain, or en-
10y, free institutions.
49, .