Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1858-03-04
General American Emigrant Aid Associa
finn

1t seems to be the general conviction of those
whose business it is to study the public opinion
of the country, that no political party can long
resist the propensity of our people to acquire
territory, and especially territory III which agri-
culture is discouraged by no winter cold, and
where the soil yields Astounding crops without
reluctance or expense, as in the southern portions
of this hemisphere The slave interest has
sought to find i'll this propensity an ally and not
without prospect of success. The best of
| Walkers crew, as Of Knney's before him, were
of northern birth, and, had he been able to sus-
tain himself, there is no doubt his substantial
accessions would have been from the free states.
In view of these facts, we observe without sur
prise movement in Congress for the colonial
ton OF Central America Tor of that fact of it
in which we are specially interested, as the favor
lite channel Of emigration to and from Califor-
mia, y with free laborers! 1t originates with Hon
Eli I.hayer, of Massachusetts, who has earned a
historic reputation as the author of the modern
system OF organized emigration, which, under
Providence, has done what nothing else could
have done towards securing IL large preponder
ance OF freestate settlers in Kansas. " take
no risk in saying that, but for Mr.. Thayers ex-
ertions, Kansas wonld now have been slave
state, with two pro-slavery senator's, and one
Representative in Congress. His plan of sending
enlgrants in communities, with every facility
and convenience OF civilization, an entirely new
thing under the sun, raised barrier to slavery
IN Kansas higher and stronger than the Pres-
dent, with all his patronage and armies, has
been able to break down; and at the same time
it taught the true way for the free states to re-
sist the aggressions and progressions Of slavery.
In his Kansas experiment, Mr.. Thayer found
that it was easier Tor the free states to send ten
men with hundred dollars apiece in their pock-
cts to new territory, than for the southern
states tosend one with ten dollars in his pocket
and that when they got there, one of his hun
dred men was worth as much for all industrial
purposes as the whole ten who came from the
South. With this key discovered in Kansas,
Mr. Thayer proposes to unlock the flihustering
mystery. Walker and his hackers in the Cab
met have sought to orginize an Independent gov
eminent in Nicaragua, that it might furnish
rendezvous for the marauding handwriting, pi-
ratical, revolutionary and unemployed classes
of the United States, to which they could resort
with arms, and not violate the neutrality laws
of the United States. When a sufficient force
had accumulated, the work of conquest and ter
rltorlal acquisition was to commence. After
picking up the adjacent republics of Guatemala,
Costa Rica, New Granda, &C., they would turn
their eyes upon Cuba. BY the time this acoui-
sition was compassed-if ever--the new govern
ment would necessarily have acquired no incon-
siderable degree of strength and consolidation
1t would have commerce and foreign relations
) 1t would then be ready to take its part in the
drama already assigned to it by the statesmen
who are watching its ftetation Those states o,
our Union lying along the Gulf, which are part
ing with their relative political consequence in
: the confederacy daily, and are yeaming, even
now, for dissolution of the Union, will then
=. have central power to which to ally themse-
yes, and perfectly organized government in
which to merge.
Under the new government of which Walkers
was the nest egg, Senator Davis and Toombs,
n and Brown and Quitman, and others of their
4 association, might have one day aspired to soy
: eregn honors, of which they have little hop
d under the constitution of the United States.
v The slave trade would have been reopened will
e Africa, and the tropics revived The defeat
: Walker has not defeated their hopes nor put AL
y end to their projects, and the future peace anc
n parplexity of this Union depends upon thanking
: them with a free-state colony, and bringing
/. Central America under the influence of north.
e ern civilization. Such is Mr.. Thayer's project
@ as developed in his speech on Tuesday last in
!. Congress- He says, and says truly, that if Cen
l. trail America is colonzed at all, it must be col
: onized from the northern states, for the South
II have neither the men nor money to do it with
n that it may be done without fraud or violence
% as it should be, if done at all that it may be
l. done with the sanction and to the infinite advan.
d tage of the native population, instead of en-.
It countering their resistance that>itm may be made
j. the means of adding to the strength and valu,
: of the Union instead of dissolving it that il
a may b, made pecuniarily profitable to all who
!. embark in it, and also furnish employment ane
a opportunity to thousands who now waste theil
a native enterprise and energy in mental occupa-
tons which deform their character, paralyz
= their spirit, and extinguish their hopes
lie Some have supposed that Mr. Thayer was moi
1t entirely in earnest in his proposition. We have
L reasons to know that he is very much in earnest
d so muchs SO, indeed, that he has already com.
II menced the organization of a company, which
e. is expected to send enough emigrants into Cen
c trail America within the year to found two sub
l. stantal seaports at either extremity of the Nc
le aragua route, and to put them into profitable
n relations with the agricultural interests of tn,
l. interior.
,e If any project of colonization is feasible, tbi
D is; if any one man is more competent than an.