Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1858-12-10

1ho were mislod by these false pretences and
fraudulent devices. Many Of them, very
many Of them, were deceived and acted hon
estly, no doubt. under the conviction that
they were giving their support to candidates
and TO political party who were sincerely
and earnestly in favor of this great principle
| have made reference to this fact as a notable
instance of political legerdemain, for the pur-
pose of guarding you against its repetition,
and for the purpose of showing you, by a
memorable example, that you cannot count
upon any aid for the promotion Of the great
industrial interests Of the country, by sys.
TEN Of protective duties. through the action
or agency Of the present dominant party,
whatever may be the professions of indlvid-
nal members of the party, particularly on the
eve Of an important election, when your votes
are wanted. Though they may "keep the
word Of promise to the car, they will surely
break it to the hope" Though they may
out Herod Herod himself in professions Of
devotion to this doctrine of protection to our
home industry. mark you well. their vote will
be against it when the hour of test and trial
comes Then their allegiance to party will
prove stronger than their allegiance to their
constituencies or to the country. II has al
ways been so. As it has been in the past,
so il may be in the future. If you have been
once deceived let not the lesson be lost, but
learn wisdom from pact and bttor experience,
and take care that you be not deceived again
The man who has been once deceived can
claim no exemption from folly and from blame,
if he allows himself to be deceived a second
time in the same way upon the same subject.
repeat, then, that the present dominant
pf hp a RI holm
and avowedly hostile to the protective sys-
TEN, you have no reason to expect any favor
able change in the existing revenue laws
while that party controls the federal legisla-
tion. They utterly and emphatically repudi-
ate the doctrine of protection, for the sake Of,
or with a view to protection. They donounce
the system as partial. unjust and unconstitu-
tional. You hear them stigmatize it as class
lcgislatiou--as legislation for the benefit of a
favored few, to the prejudice and injury of the
many--as legislation which tends to build up
an anti-rcpubican " aristocracy and t. tax
and deprcss the masses of the people" This
is the sort Of argument addressed to- the ig-
norancc and the prejudice Of the multitude by
those who give tone and direction to the po-
Icy and to the action of that party. From
such party you have no right and no reason
to expect a change of the existing policy
Even now when your national treasury is de-
pletcd-when your government expenditures
have run up to the enormous sum Of ninety
millions of dollars year, and will soon over
run hundred millions of dollars a year at
the rate they are now advancing-even now,
when your revenues have fallen below forty
millions of dollars a year.-when Mr.. Buch-
anan's chief financial officer. the Secretary of
the Treasury, and his anointed heir to the
succession. is Obliged to come to Congress
for leave to borrow the snug little sum of for
ty millions Of dollars in order to enable him
to meet the current expenses of the govern
ment and to higglc along until the next meet
ing Of Congress-under these circumstances
the Secretary accompanies his application with
no proposition, nor even a suggestion of any
mode, for increasing the revenues So as to en-
able him to discharge the obligations OF the
government or even to pay this borrowed
money But on the contrary he avais him
self Of the occasion as in his December report,
TO treat us to an argument--and very lame
argument too-and to enter his protest, in
harmony with the Presidents advice in his
annual message, against any revision or modi-
6cation of the present revenue laws and to
read as q long and labored homily against the
old aud approved doctrine Of protection to our
home industry, by discriminating duties upon
foreign importations. How Mr.. Cobb ex-
poets to get along under the existing state Of
his fnancics | will not undertake to say.
But presume like old Macauber, he must be
waiting for something to turn ups or that
be must be acting upon the idea of the bank
rupt simpleton who was determined to get
ont Of debt by borrowing
To give you still further evidence OF the
opposition Of the present party in power to
this principle of protection-it has been de-
cared on the floor of Congress during the re-
cent session on more than one occasion by
leading men of the administration party that
this doctrine Of protection to our industrial
pursuits by protective tariff, was an expod-
ed doctrne-that it had become an obsolete
qucston-that the policy was abandoned by
everybody-that nobody now advocated it
that nobody was asking for tin fact that
there was no one now so poor as to do it
homage" IL is high time to show to these
gentlemen and to show to the country that
this is altogether a mistake. II is high time
to show to the public and to public men, es-
pecially, that this is living vital question
with the great industrial classes of the peo-
pie, and that they are in earnest about it,
and that no man can ride into power, here
alter, especially by the ald oil fennsylNania
votes, upon tho tank and hmping pack-horse
of free trade. 1t is high time to show to the
country that although this question for some
years past has received comparatively little
attention and little consideration, it is hence
forth, and from this day, to form one of the
chief planks in your political platform and
that no candidate for political favor and posi-
tion can command your support unless he
stands fully, fairly and firmly upon that plat
form. Take this stand-let this be your firm
resolve--let your action accompany and cor
respond with your resolution and you will
soon find your public men and the expeotants
of public favor making rapid haste to plant
themselves upon it, And above ALL let it be
seen and known that you are no longer to be
tamperod with upon this subject. Let it be
understood that you are no longer to be hood
winked by false pretenses, nor to be cheated
out of your votes and out of employment and
out of bread by false and specious professions.
Take care too that you send man into the
halls of Congress who will not be firm and
true to this great and vital principle in every
trial and every emergency.
But before this principle can be adopted in
our national legislation, and before it can be
carried out into full practical operation. we