The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-09-28

and pleads its concessions precedent no
To divide our territories ON this line, but to cx
clude us from their whole extent. This ques
ton was hardly adjusted before consolidation
moved on the tariff Here the broad claim o.
/ power on the part of thu General Government
, was nothing less than to regulate the capita
and labor of the whole Union, by the imposition
Of the taxes of the General Government They
: undertook to make some pursuits of industry
profitable, at the expense of the rest,--to make
the Southern planter pay tribute to the Northern
manufacturer by forcing him to consume the
Northern production at higher prices. Al
] length, when the triumph of monopoly and des-
/ potism appeared in the tariff Of 1928 to be com
plete on the vital point of taxation,-that great
point on which the Ango-Sayon race in Eng
land and in this country, have battled for and
won their liberties-South Carolina determined
to resist. You all know the result. Abandoned
by the whole South,-she nevertheless, forced
another compromise to be adopted in 1888.
! Mr. Clay again was the author of this com
promise. He has lately thought proper to dis
close some Of its secrets in the Senate OF the
United States,--and it appears, by his own con-
! fession, that whilst holding out, in the Senate,
to the people OF the United States, the Tariff
Act of 1888, as a permanent adjustment Of the
Tariff he had secret understanding with the
manufacturers of the North. that before the ma
terial reductions in the duties took place, by
which they We're to be seriously affected, it was
to be overthrown; and that in conformity with
this secret understanding with the manufacturers,
he had counseled President Van Buren, to recon-
mend to Congress violation of its provisions
| What can the South expect from such a man
! What can any compromise which he shall pro-
pose. bring to her, but treachery, discontinue
and dishonor. From the protective tariff, sprung
the next great aggression on the Constitution,
the intermedding with slavery. Immediately
after the termination Of the tariff contest, in
1888, MIR. John Quincy Adams in 1884, COM
menced the agitltion Of slavery in Congress, by
the introduction Of abolition petitions. The
transition from the tariff to slavery, in the pro
gress of despotism on the part of the General
! Government, was very natural. The friends OF
| the manufacturing interests had sednously in
culcated on the people of the North, that the
contest about the tariff, was contest between
slave labor and free labor. This allegation was
made because the chief opposition to protec-
tive tariff was from the agriculturalists of the
/ South, where slave labor was employed; whilst
| ~ chief support Of the manufacturing policy
was from the free States, where free aor was
employed. The effect, was a deep and blind
hostility to the institution Of slavery in the South
by a large portion Of the people of the Northern
| States.
But independent Of this cause, the principle
Of protective tariff is the principle of enamel
patton on the part Of the General Government
If it has any right to interfere with the property
f of the citizen, beyond the simple end Of sup.
porting the Government, where shall be the limit
of it's interference? If it has the power OF
taking the property of one citizen TO give to
: another nothing is clearer than that its discre
i ton alone must determine what kind OF prop
. erty may be taken, and the portion it shall take
to bestow upon its beneliciaries, and who these
5 benefciaries shall be. BY the existing tarif
$ laws, portion of a planters cotton is taker
t from him and given to a manufacturers. What
is the difference in principle if Congress should
{ take from him his property in his slave, and give
: it to his slave? On abstract reasoning, the ar.
G gument would be far stronger for the exercise
It of the power OF Congress over the property O
; IT, fsin the latter, than in the former case
f Il, .r~--t not openly processing, the connex
A. ion between protective tariff and emancipation
he those in faror of the protective policy, as 500
in rs that question was temporarily put asid,
4 moved Immediately for the overthrow of SLAYER
ID in the Stites, by the action of Congress. AID
he vancing with steady step, and multiplying tn
- points of attack as they advanced, they are dc
in ternlined to make the General Government n
ID consolidated and omnpotent on this great sub
IS ject as on the tariff Not satisfied to establish
j. a despoism over us in taxation, the central Gov
n zrnment of Congressional majority must ex-
II tend its sway over our social relations, and up
4 turn the foundations of society, and hold in its
e hand the confiscation of all property itself.
ri Gentlemen, it has been asserted again and
: again in the Senate of the United States with
an audacity which is intended to represent truth
: fitness, that il the late despotic compromise
: measures in Congress, had passed, or should YET
: iu-dctail pass into laws, all agitation on the sub
: ject of slavery would Immediately cease-Abo
: lition triumphant in many of these measures
I, themselves,) would be dead, and the days OF
halcyon peace and fraternal joy in the Union
; would again return. | propose to lay before
you the various points which have been brought
forward in Congress on the subject of slavery,
meditatng its extinction in the Unon--from
which you will perceive how vain and futile are
all such imaginings.
, The proposed measures in Congress on the
subject of slavery, to calm the Southern mind,
touch but two points-savery in our territories,
: and the recovery Of fugitive slaves. The enc
e mics Of the South have, however, pending in
d Congress, no less than six points, by which they
assail through Congress theinstituton of slavery
e | will briefly ennmerate them.
s. The first, is the abolition Of slavery in the
. District of Columbia. You know how this Dis
n trict came into existence. The Constitution pro
rs vided that ten miles square should be accepted
is by Congress from any of the States, WHEREOF
5, to erect sthe seat of the Government" Vr
It gina and Maryland, slave States at the time, a
y all the States were excepting one ceded the ter
: miles square now constituting the District o
j Columbia Do you suppose it ever entered the
G head of any man at that day, from the North OF
ii the South, that Congress would ever dare en-
terrain the proposition Of abolishng slavery il
h this District, whilst slavery existed in Maryland
" or Virginia; and thus erect between these two
j. States grand citadel for Abolition forays, ant
he the protection of fugitive slaves ? Yet Con
ID gress has not only entertained this proposition
ID but, during the last Congress, it was actual,
e. carried in the House of Representatives. Thi
of point of aggression on the South, the first origi
n mated, and the nearest to consummation, unit
at the greater question of slavery in our terrtorie
interviewed, is not only Enclosed, but is not ever