Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1848-03-03


furniture ofthe camp and the commander, whom
military law invests with the power of life and
death, issues his orders for the s. lrcc" election
of the civil magstracy of State, TO whose juris-
diction neither he nor his troops arc longer
amcnablc.
When the soil of an Independent country is
sufficiently wide, and its climate sufficiently
genial, TO supply its population with the cardinal
necessaries of human life, and reasonable means
OF exchange with foreign lands-when It's phys
ical power is adequate 10 its defence against
invasion and aggression, and when its rights to
an equal position among civilized communities
are recognised, il possesses all the necessary
clements of true prosperity, and nothing is gain
ed by further increase of power or extension of
territory. This point we reached long since.
Indeed our original limits fulfilled oil the neces
sary conditions of national prosperity. and ]
must doubt whether we shonld not ut this mo-
ment have occupied higher place among the
nations Of the earth than we now eniow. if we
had been content with the inheritance orr wiser
fathers devised to us. We had territory. such
in position and coniguration, that il was wholly
invulnerable from without. and at the same time
so situated as to give us the most enviable iacil
tiles for universal commerce. as we'll as for
maritime power: we enjoyed a boundlcss va
ricty of soil, climate, and natural productions
an extent of surface adequate to the sustcnance
of larger population than any kingdom of Eu-
rope. and yielding the most abundant materials
| for industrial elaboration, the most Plentiful
means of commercial exchange. What more
/ than this has earth TO offer TO social man ; !
shall not dispute the wisdom of the acquisition
of Florida and eastern Louisiana The latter
seem necessary. as n means of providing an out
let for the products of the tecming West. cspc-
cialIy in the day when canals and railroads had
not yet furnished better means Of transport to
the ocean than that famous river. which is fro
zen for three months in the year. and dry the re-
naming nine:' or even than that Z" inland sea-"
whose Snags and sawycrs are more formidable
to navgators than the Lbyan Svrtes, or the
rock and whirlpool of old ScylIa and Charybdis !:
but am not able to see wherein the lot of any
American has been, or is likely TO be, improved
by further expansion. cannot conceive that
the value 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 Gcncsscc flour will bc raised by
competition with the vast grain-growing region
between the Mississippi and the Rocky noun
tain desert or that the commerce of New ork
and Philadelphia, and Baltimore. and Char.
lesion, 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 o
our growing population, or for any purpose o
national trade national defence Z: and it would
: therefore, he worse than idle to wage useles
, and guilty war, to conquer for posterty ter
: ritory which it will be quite able to secure 70
: itself by honest means, whenever it may rcqur
i it.
: am sceptical in regard to the exact truth {
. the glowing descriptions we have heard an
r read Of the physical advantages OF Orego
4 4, D.. ii. ia,
: they are represented to be, they well may, an
o no doubt WILL one day form Il separate coniede
e racy. They rapidly filling up with Amer
g can emigrants, and they will soon be stron
t enough to maintain themselves an indepen
: dent people. They will sympathze with on
: in 'titu,ons, and adopt our form of government
t but they can never have common interest witt
: us, and the mutual good of all parties will de
: mand that all political bonds between them am
/ Us should be severed Why then. persevere il
? this Improbable struggle, to acquire what can
= not long be ours to enjoy!
;, But what evidence i, there that the possession
= of New Mexico or California, however perma
: nent can be attended with any solid advantage
4 to the people Of this country! They are scpa
d rated from us by sterile and arid deserts. .
It chains of lofty and almost impossible mountains
i They yield no natural products Of commercial
= value which our own soil does not abundanI
r supply. They are described by the hest inform
i ed explorers as being, in the main. unsuitcd t
y agriculture. unable to sustain a dense popula
: ton. adapted only to the lowest form Of sem
n civilized lite-the pastoral state And. abov
l. all. they are inhabited by a mixed population, {
i habits. opinions, and characters incapable {
n sympathy or assimilation with our own: rae,
e whom the experience of an entire Ccnera'io
j. has proved TO he untitled for lfgoyernmcntan
h unnrenarcd to appreciate, sustain or enjoy, FIRE
e institutions.
: But how is the war to be carried on Ever
l. financial scheme hitherto proposed is based O
)l the assumption. that the North will be gcncror
n enough, or stupid enough, to bear the sole pee
OF mary burden of a war, commenced and pros
" cnted with single eye to the interests Of,
will not say the people. bat OF certain polite
rs asprant- of the South. The annexation of 're
L. as. a strictly Southern measure, and the initial
Is nv step towards tbs war, by giving the an,
i tariff party a majority in the Senate, email,
in those aspirants to deprive the industry Of Il
j. North of the protection To which it was just
Is entitled, and which it had enjoyed from the o
al ranization II the Government to that evil ho'
1t. when the tariff of Is i6 WAS adopted; and the
mt same asprantS, and their followers, now pr
nd po.c 10 tax our pockets to pay for all the cons
Vs. ouanccs of that disastrous act. The Secrcta
he of the Treasury recommends duty on tea Al
nd coffee: o'her prominent Democrats have advls
"a the imposition of duties on the free list, embr
q cinr many articles chiefly consumed ut I
nj north: and Others again, stern republican i
as tors. no doubt oi accumulated wealth, and Ia
'e- ury. and supcrlluity, diSin'ercStedy propose
tai tax On bank stock. and all articles of gold a
silver Disguise it as You VIII, 1t Is PLAN III
mt all these schemes are both calculated and
ed sirpod to shift the whole pccunary burden
of tho war mon Northern shoulders. How mu
he Ron and coffee are consumcdby the three or 10
of millions Of Southern slaves What Is the VI
of no of the iewelry that deck their persons, a
IRE the forks. and spoons. and gobIes OF plate u
i've odorn their tables How many ol them cons'
IRE GOLD and silver watches, to know their hours
red inbor. rcCreshment. and rcposc The last Dei
he ocraiic House OF Representatives resolved,
of the motion of n Southern gentleman, "tlat |
nd neople of the United States are too patriotic
his refuse any necessary tax in time OF war, li'
in happeus It that no Southern Democratic INA
les cier has ever been patriotic enough to mo
a tax for the support of this war, embracing
nd dissertation of property possessed only ny
OF South" PERSONS namely, helu IN save
lry or involuntary senitudc 2 Aud when that p
to secuted philanthropist, who has achieved gre
sed ness " by coupling his name with the lar-iau
nX- proviso, moved tax, apporiloncd according
not The Constitution, on the same basis as congre
mi ional representation, with what transports of
the bilant patriotism did the "swect South i
'er- the suggestion. Sir the Government orr
pom very plainly minated to him, that has pair
on ism" was OF the sort so ener2eucally anathe'
, oil h., hr l1hnsnn