T ..1•••• ;'" • k * At e, . „ tit . - 4. • •, BY AlirES CLARK :] VOL XI, NO. 37. COMMUNICATION, For the " Huntingdon Journal." THE WEST, Ma. EDITOR :—Gedgraphically the ex tensive territory, over which float the stars and stripes ; this land of free' and democratic prindiples, is separated by . nature into three grand divisions ; the North with its populous cities, whose spires glitter in the sunbeams, its grow% ing manufactures; and exhaustless fa:- eilitiesi for fabricating' all the articles essential to cdtilfort ; the south with its palmetto groites; broad savitanas and flu: merous tied and cotton fields; and the 'West, whose fertile prairibs, astonish mankind for their admirable adaptation for agriculture. it is of this productitie; thinly inhabited section, ton which the rays of the suit seem to linger longest, and semi - tie take its Oohing kits in sorrow; that f intend to discotiree: Drained by the Father of waters and his giaht tributaries, it tillers mdst invi ting opportttnitics for a profitable trade. Few riders, whose basins indent the surface of bur globe, can be navigated to the snine distance as . our 'western stream. Their great depth, rarely ob structed by immoveable barriers, is 'pearly without a parallel. The largest class of boats, impelled by that almost irresistable power—steam,iglides swiftly on their bosom though : ladened with *Various coMmodities. Its • uncultivated soil beckons the homeless emigrant to make it his abi ding place. Thither, he mostly; and wisely too, bears his household goods. If his calling be that of the artisan or mechanic, its commanding cities and thriving towns bid him welcome: flay ,seem to have sprung up like the gourd that shaded Jonah ; and are the vast depots of a fruitful traffic. This has been their creator, at it were; in a great measure. 'What else, in less than fifty years, could have caused the erection of those clustre of splendid mansions, whose architectilre is not excelled by those of older date, and those tnnghili cent streets, that dazzle the eye .of the spectator 1 Its influence has aided in planting the fruit-tree . of every 'species, where the "pathless woods" offered a secure retreat to the beasts of prey, the 'Where wolf and the fierce panther.-- Where the wigtVaha once stdod hanging with trophies, scalps of neighboring Indians, the Cathedral lifts its lofty dome towards heaven. These things are the effect of the same wonderful Cause. Wesward the foreigner wends his way, and why not many of our natives follow his worthy example 1 , Surely it would be better for them. I would not persuade them to forsake our rugged mountains, save for their benefit. Not that I love the West more than the home of my youth: But I pity more wretchedness and smilidness. Thew sands of the young men of the old set tled states are doomed to limited means by birth. They may toil, till they shift their scene of existence ; where they are born,land by avarice; penuriousness end rigid frugality, amass a few hundred per: haps thousand of dollars. Nothing more can they ever hope for. Not so is it in the West. Two hundred dollars purchases 160 acres of land. If tilled at all, it yields an ample subsistence for any fun ily—if industrously, no mean refenue; Besides, the owner is quietly enriched by the increased value of his land. Fur= ther, he can life with half the labor of a Northern or Eastern farmer. •Re has no rocks and stones to contend With.— There is no forests to be felled by the strength of his arm before he edit scat ter his seed; Nature has sated him that trouble. Before hint stretches the green, yet productive original trieddow., All that is reserved for him to perform, is to mellow the tough sod, and, irfler a season, comulit to its besom his &Mil ; -and afterwards farm the ground; unim peded by any obstacle, add be reOartled with luxuriant crops. What a garden le. the husbandman ! With all Very many prefer a life of drudgery. true they go to see it, but how do they ex amine it 1 They scarcely take a bird's / eye view of it. They can see nought, save sloughs, the natural channe4 of the water of the country, which their juandiced imaginations magnify into dismal swamps, where stalk disease' and death. Every reader knows that Such districts as the Pontine marshes, in the Vicinity of Rome, lane in all ages crea ted the abominable fe%'cr and ague. The efficacy of the Pertwiiin bark or quinine, is not unknown to the gay Frenchman on thObanks of the &in or Loire, the patient German on the sunny brink of the Rhine, or the whiskered Russian ou the bleak shores of the Walga or Don. All the great rivers, in a temperate lati tude, on the did, as Well as the new world continent, give origin to the same malady. But the interior of the coati- try is as healthy as that oP Fennsylua nia 'or Virginia: Man must become acclimated whbn his residendb is chan ged; if not caretul he is always then lia ble to sickness, no matter hoin serene 'the atmosphere. It is false, then that natdrally the grbatest part of the West is a graveyard. Temperate men are healthy everywhere—gluttons nowhere. From such. fanciful reasons many re turn dissatisfied; Content to end -their days amid their Time hills; however hard, their lot. Time speed on. The bold spirit that peregrinated to that dis tant land grows wealthy. The former re. mains poor, and die lamenting the on= propitiousness of fortune: Is not this a fact Z . Every candid, inforMed individual; who colisiders the geographical position of that section of the Union, will agree with me, that at ho remote period, it 'will surpass the North or South in agri culture. Already a bushel of wheat commands a better price at Chicdgo than in the central pert of Pennsylliania.— Half the labor wall produce it; thence it can bh sold at a thuch lower rate. Will not Fbreign emigration swell thither and sooll populate that wide domdin. Man will go where his appetite for gain can be itthst easily satisfied. Therefore, the West will soon be the granary of the hew; as Egypt was formerly Of the old world: Why then do 8b many strie here all their clays with ihdigence.l Simply be tense el a base faint-heartedness. They cannot think of living out of the society in which they Were bred. They are too ignorant to knetii . that integrity begets friends every *here. Little better than the southern bondnian they libe and ex pire. They lack that noble enterprise that " Makes the desert bloolit as the rose," fOr they refuse to take up their abode in the great Mississippi Valley; equal in fertility to that of the famed Lombardy in Italy; or Tamlda in south ern Russia. The grassy plains of Illi nois, Wi§cOniiin and lowa, Will Oupport millions' yet. Go thither manly Opirits and Mate yourselves colpfortable homes. lie Wit slaves. Ohio was once sneered at, and termed the "lick ; woods ;" wealth and plenty crowned those that dared brook flint disagreeable epithet; Go and do likewise "fearless sons of pow erty." "With a heart for any fdte, Loan to labor and to wait." A. 1 ) ; Birmingham, Sept. 21; 1846. THE TARIFF. EXTRACT I'lloll A SPEECH !lON. M. P. GENTRY] (or TENS} SEE,) Delivered in the House 9f Reprcsentatives bf the United States, July 2d; 1846: Mr. Chairman ' the secret history of this celebrated Katie letter has never been, and perhaps never will be, made public. If the same facity exLted Obtaining access to the private torre,: , pondence of certain eitimnis of Penn sylvania aird Tennessee; which seems to exist with respect to the confidential records of the State Department, rat. , tmg to the expenditure of the secret service fund; I apprehend that a flood 1f light would be shed upOte the interesting period of political hist.tiry which I ann now discussing; and I think it would be made manifest that Air. Polk's Kano letter ells wrieen to order; that it was the result of ,an underseanding between Mr. Polk and certain bade* politicians bf Pennsylvania ; that they sought it for the purpose of deceiving the people bf that Stale ; and that he wrote it with a full knowledge qf their purpose. and with ihe 'intention that this letter Abald be used far the dceimplishment of that nefarious design. When it was published in Ten nessee, where it was kno‘vn that Mr, Pe% had been uniformly ePposed to the policy of protecting "Make industry,'' and where his supporters were daily stilling to win the people to his supperts upe* the grout-Al of his opposition to that policy, the Whig party of that State were inspired l'eith asMnishmen't and indignittion, that a fraud so bold and baiefaced should be attempted, and they detethiined to expose it. They forwarded to Pennsylvania Mr. Polk's speeches and circulars, containing conclusive proofs of his uniiOrtn inveterate hogtility to protective policy„. as that policy wad known to be understood by the peo ple of that State.. The Democratic pol iticlatis of Pennsylvania Met these proofs by assuring the people' that they were Whig inventions—Whig falsehoods.— The people believed, and shouted huzza for Palk and the Tariff of 1842. The Detitoeratic leaders of that State embla zoned upon their banners in close juxta ' positiOn, POI K AND THE TARIFF OF 1842 ;- ! and with these words flit their motto,' they Matched on " conquering and to' CORRECT t'ItINCII'LgS-SUPPORTED BY TRUTH, HUNTINGDON, PA., SEPTEMBER 80, 180, cdm - luer." The Whigs of : Teiinessee were not content with. merely fdrward iii to Perinsylvanid. the proofs of Mr. Pblk's opinions, to which I hate refer red: public meetings were called at dif ferent places in that State, in which many of the most prominent eitlzens participated, at whiih. resolutions Were passed propounding to Mr:. Polk inter rogatories calculated to elibit frbm him a mere specific declaration of his opin ions upon the subjdbt of the tariff, and to relieve his Kane letter from ambiguity, and from the possibility df misconstrue. tion: Committees of highly.respettablc gentlemen were appointed to Communi bate those interrogatories to Mr. .Polk, and ask a response . They performed in respectful terms the task assigned. them. Upon various pretences he post poned and evaded a response to those interrogatories: He was as silent as the grave. He perceived that he could' hot reach the Presidentidi chair without the support of the tariff men of the North and the anti-tariff men of the South. Hence it was not his interest to be distinctly understood on that sub jeet. He chore to be supported •as tariff man in Nets York and Peansyl iania, and as ati anti-tariff man at the South, where the free=trade doctrine prevails ; and thus, obtaining the Pres idency, deceite and betray the one ih .terest or the other. • Whilst Mr, Polk was playing this per. fictions game in Tennessee, his conspir ator in Pennsylvania vas not idle. On the contrary; he was actively '.engaged in canvassing that State ; and with the Kane letter in his hand, he argned to thb people, and convinced them, 'that the protective tariff policy, to which ''they were so much devoted, would be as gale . under the wise and patriotic guardian ship of Mr; Polk. as President, as under that of Mr. Clay, whose eminent talents, as every body knows, have been con stantly and zealously devoted to the maintenance of that policy through a long life of distinguished public ser fice. Mr. Buchanan was the favorite son of Pennsylvania. The people of that State had repeatedly conferred upon hini high honors and distinctions. HU had been their favorite candidate for the Presidency, and they had, through their representatives in the Baltimore Conven tion/ zealously pressed his claims upon the consideration of that body for a nomination as the Democratic candidate for that high office. He had been long acquainted with Mr. Polk j and had been associated with him in the public ser rice for years as a member of this House: He was, therefore, naturally presumed to know the opinions and principles of Mr. Polk ; and it is net therefore at all surprising, that the honest and confiding people of Penniylvania believed his as' sertions, and under his advice gave the vote of that great. State to Mr. Polk lot President of the United States. Bound to them as he was by a thousand ties Of gratitude, for hovers generously confer red, 1 suppdst it did not enter into the, mind of the Most mispicious man among them to conceive it to be possiblg, that he whom they had so long honored and trusted could be so base as to deceitie them into the support of a man for the Presidency ; the influence of whose Ad ministration **Mild be directed to the destruction of a policy which they ha , !loved essential to their welfare, and which thcrefdre they desired to mains taro and perpetuate. The sequel is no;' , / revealing to them a new chapter in the history of human baseness and, perfidy. What do they now behold 'I This same James &Altman, whom they haire trust.: ed and honored so much, and *hose as , surance to them that the protective tariff , policy would be safer under the Admin-; istration of, Mr. Polk, induced them to elect him OM President of the United States, is now a member of Mr. Polk's cabinet, and giving the influence of his name, his talents, and character to thn measures of his Administration ! ! What is the policy of that Administration on the subject 6f the tariff It is embodied and expressed in the report of the Sec retary of the Treasury; and in the bill now before the committer When the report of the Secretary of the Treasury was read at the begimiing bf the present session of Congress; an honorable member from Alabama, (Mr. PAYNE) rose in his place, and move.'the printing of a large number of extra cop ies for disifibution among the people, and hailed a in most enthusiastic terms as the first free trade document that had ever emanated from the Executive . branch of this Gdernment. And the gentle man from Cr!dorgia, who opened this de bate, labored to commend the bill to the favor of thi'i . Committee upon the express ground, that it repudiated the principle of "pro!eeting home industry: The democra fie members from Penrsylvanitt rise in !Leir places here, and wofal strains tell the -committee Lu e thi; Kane letter induced them to believe the jitobtective tariff policy would . be safe under. the Administration of lilr. Polk; how they read that letter to the people of Pennsylvania, and made them believe the same thing; and they'entrent their • democratic brethren to take into consid eration their peculiar position, and im plore them not to pass the Adminisira- Hon 'measure now under consideration; What response do they receive 1 They have been repeatedly regularly read out of the Democratic party, and denounced for cherishing, what it called•a bastard • Deniecracy Without venturing to ex press . any-opinion upon so delicate a 'question as the relatiii° claiths to ortho ' don, and respectability, of the legit • intate, and bastard brahches of the Deni oertitic family, I proceo with the ques tion which lam examining. Mr. Bu chanan is, I repeat, is member of the Adininistration which is employing all its influence to pas! thin free trade Measure ; and this fact precludes the possibility of the conclusion that •he was himself deceived by the • Kane let ter; and thus became the innocent and unititting instrument of ffeceiving the - State to which he owed sd large a debt .of gratitude. If this had been true, when Mr, Polk developed his. free trade policy; he .would lave resigned his place in the cabinet With indignatibn; saying to _Mr: Polk; ' you induced 'inn •to believe that the protective tariff policy would be fostered and guarded by your eAdniiniStration. Under that • belief I made. assurances to the people of • Penn .sylvania, which induced their to , make yoit. Presinent of the United States— .Yoti. have deceived me, arch made ,Me the instrument of deceiving those -Who .confided in me, and to whdin I am in debted for all that I am. Thercfore;•gtlf resPett, honor, patriotism—etery high 'notire which ought to control the con 'diitt of man, compel me tb cut myself loose from your Administration; and Co operate, as best I may, with my deceived and injured friends in redressing our corm - non wrongs." But where is he What is he doing 1 He is, as I before remarked, a member 0 . 1 that Admirals : tration Which is ontleying its whble in fluence to 'abolish the policy which Mr: Buchanan made the people of Pennsyl vania believe would be safe in its keep ing: He is dancing attendants at the White House, where he can " litik absurd pimp; and crook the pregnant binges of the knee, that thrift may follow fa - Wiling." He is literally lending the Strength of his arm to aid the feebler aria of his master in striking down the interests of the people of Pennsylvania. Therefore, it is impossible for the most Christian charity to believe that he was not know ingly and wilfully a party to the foul and autrocious fraud that nas been prac tised upon' the American people, but more especially upon those of New York and Pennsylvania. The President of the United States cannot escape the same •damning imputation by referring to the generalities of his Kane letter.— If he had not intended that letter to do a work of fraud and deception, he would • have responded to the interrogatories propounded to him by the public mees lugs in Tennesse, to which I haVe refer red, thereby relieving himself from the possibility of being misunderstood. • Mr. Chairman, I do not understand the casuistry which makes a distinction between the perfidy of an indiiidual and that of a public man, and decides the one to be less reprehensible than the other. It' 'personal disgrace and dishonor were the penalties with which public opinion punished political perfidy, it Would be impossible to conceive of a 10-ker deep of infamy than that to which James K. Polk and James Buchanan would be condemned. Who believes that James K. Polk cteuld have been elected Presi dent of the United States, if he had pro claimed to, the American people the po litical doctrines and measures which are set forth and recommended in the report of the Secretary of the Treasury 1— Who belid - es that he would hate recei ved the vote of New York or Pensylva nia, if the people of those States had known that the influence of his Admin istration would be exerted to pass such a measure as the bill now before this Committee The gentleman from Pennsylvania, (Mr. TILOMP4ONO when addressing this committee; the other day, frankly decla red that neither of those States would have voted for Mr. Polk if they had be , keyed that such a measure would have been urged by his Administratkm, and he warned his political brethren of the Dmiocratic phrty, that political power ‘ 4 toidd depart from them in those States, if this bill heroines a law. I h6nored the Democratic delegation from the ?mate of Pennsylvania,' for the zeal, firm niss, and ability with which they have resisted and opposed Administration Adnistration upon the question now before this com mittee; and 1 - cannot believe thatthose in'this matter who have been ,o faithful to their constituents, so firm , in their duty,. knowingly Co-operated iq decei iing their constituents into the belief that. Mr . , Polk was as much deirted to the protective policy as Mr. Clay., I tun inclined to believe that they were them selves deceived 14 their confidence in Mr. Buchanan, and were thus made the innocent instruments of misleading their constituents. Whilst I honor them for the fidelity with *Well they resist the influence of the Administration, by . 0,p 7 'posing the bill now under consideratiMi, I must confess my surprise that they do hot give voice on this floor to the deep indignation which their deceived and betrayed constituents may be supposed to feel against those who have deceived and bbtrayed them. If they desire to free themselves entirely from the impu tation in having aided in cheating the people of Pennsylvatila into the belief that ..Mr: Polk would guard .and foster the bolley of a protective tariff, they must renounce their leyalty to his Ad thinistratkin, and denounce Jhmes Bu chanan false and faithless to Penn sylvania: Mr. Charman, the facts which I have brought to the view of this coin mittee establish clearly the position, that the resolutions of the Baltimore • Convention, on the subject of the Tariff; arc entitled to no weight whatsoever as the argument for the passage of the bill under consideration, inasi'lueli as it is Made maflifest, tbat and his supporters,. in the great States of New York and Pennsylvania, repudiated those resolutithih before the . last Presidential election ; end withdut such -a repudia tion or modification;Of the Tariff issue, he could not have been elected to the • Presidency: The, conclusion • would therefore seem to inflow, that the sup porters of Mr. eolk's Administration are morally inhibited from passing this bill into ti law; for no fact can be clear: er than that the will of the American people was declared against such a law in the election of 14r. Polk: • Congress will, by passing the bill nowhOore this committees consurliate top. haat" which the .Exech five branch of thpoGoVrninent has begun, but ivhich it 110 AS yet only partially Completed. In my ti!'id,eavor to establish these conclusions; I have found it necessary to animadvert .with some severity upon the conduct of -bizh pub lic functionaries. I have done sj in the pC.rformance of what I conceivt, to be a public dui!y, and not to gratify personal or party malignity. •It is certainly the right .cif ti free people; and the Represen tatives! 2f a free people, boldly to can vass the public acts of public inen.— Thordugly convinced that a considera ble part* of the America' people were cheated of their suffrages in the last Presidential election, and finding the verdict which they titbit rendered relied upon here to force through, %congress a measure *hien they condemn,. and which It. believe to be fraugfit with mis chief to the public ;welfare, I have felt it to be my duty to expose the ' perfidy which its been prmtised, and to invoke the jusc indignation of the people upon the itutf6'rs, great and sfnall, of that .perfidy: •. Vet a severe, but just retribu tion be Visited upon them, as a warning all after to ambitious and un principled Aspirants, teaching thein to know, that ; the people, ever ready to sustain and honor those who are faith ful to them,' possess intelligence to de tect, and virtuous resentment to punish those, who by falsehood and tiOn and do' le dealing, win their con fidence and 6iipport only to deceive and • betray them: Thus, and thus only, can practical effect be given to the princi ple; which is. the foundation of our poll tics! institeiens, that the *plc are competent to ,govern themselves. For it must be olri,imis to all, that this prin ciple will became inefficient and impe rative, when it shall be permitted to any man to go 6' unwhippcd of, justice" who reaches the Presidency 1, professing hiinself favorable to a system of public policy, and, when safely installed in power, einiOys all the influence in his high station to destroy the policy which he was elected to maintain. Upon such a Man, nail rat his guilty coadjutors, the aePple of the United States owe it to, themselves . , to honor, truth and justice, id W the principles of their Govern..., Ai Mt,' to visit a blasting indignation ; iA4.I hesitate not to say, that if is there ks yet left among us a remnant of the Om spirit of our Fathers,' this duty will due time be performed. . Mr. Chairman, I have occupied so ouch of the hour to which I am limited by a rule of the House in :refuting the, argument so zealously and persever; p : ly; urged--that the people, by t'hei'sm; Air, Polk, ratified the decree of ,the Convention, and that ,tliOrefore Congress is bound to . pass 4111 now before this conimito:e--as to 'iave hut a few minutes „left to ,dev.ite hi in exami nation of its, prob,,ble tileet, upon the 1 national interests, and contrast the same [EDITOR, ANti PR' )11:0'roiz WIIOLt NO, 657. with the actual realized operation of.the tariff act 6f 18 , 112., which this bill pr;lio sea to reppal. Ido not regret that I tin thus restricted, for tl, argitthents upon which the supporters of the opposing sytems of, policy rely, to sustain their respective theories have been ably pre sented during this dOate, and on many former occasions, inschnuch that but lit tle which either neW %.,r original can now be said on eithar .8.4 c U the ques tion. Ths tariff of 1312 is founded upon the principle that it is expedient to raise, by duties on foreign imports, a sufficient amount of revenue to defray the necessi.iy expenses of Government, and to diqriminate in laying those du ties so as to eitend, in the language of Mr. Polk, 4 , h6ti he was a candidate foi the Presidency, "fair and just protec- tion to all the great interests of the Whole Unhin, eudracing agriculture, inanufactureki riiechnOc arts, com merce, and navigation r whereas the bill under consideration is founded upon the free trade theory as set forth by Mr, Polk in his message fina l his election to the Presidency, and by his Secretary of the Treasury, in his annual report made at the commencement of the present sdssion of Congress. Thousands of political agitators have. constantly employed their talents, for mere party purposes, in endeavoring to excite th ) 3 passioniand prejudices of the people against the tariff' tttt of 184'2; and by ~ : onceding; for the most part, the ii o i l .6 e 'vt i .s s of the general principle of policy upon• which that act is founded, and attacking it in its details, they have been to some extent successful. To tic- , complish this - object, every narrow pre jUdiee, every mean passion of the ho rn:in heart hits been perseveringly ap pegled to. It is a high rroof of the intelligence of the American people that,. tinder such circumstances, their verdict. ' was rendered at the last 'residential, election, as have conclusively shown, in favor of the generaliwinliple of Cy upon which that law is founded. I tlaitti of the most bitter.,evponent of that law the admission, which I think candor will ccinpel him to make, that Os,a revenue measure it has admirably ful!,filed the predictions of those who framed it, and most sigeuhly falsified the predictions of those who Cipposed it when it was under consideration in this House.- When that law was under con-. sideration in this IpStise,_,ln 1842, it:4 opponents argued most zealously that, the duties which it imposed were so high as to prohibit importations, and that it would be wholly insufficient as a revenue measure,- atl I well remember that the present President of the United States, when a candidate fe'r Governor in the State of Tennsgsee;„ confidently anntobeed the same opinion to the peo ple of that State. The friends of the law, on the other hand, , contended on this Boer that the duties which it impo sed were so adjusted as to raise twenty six millions of dollars, and give fair and just encourigement and protection to, American manufactures: The official reports from the Treasury Department shows us that there has accrued to the Government, from the operation of that law, On annual iitirtig,e revenue of more than twenty-six millions of dollars ; and the proof is before us in many forms that the manufacturing intertwits; ,and every ekher interOt of the eoutttry, im mediately sprung upward from a,ztate of languishing de,wession to one of healthful prosperity. When that law passed by. Congress the finances of the Government were in a most deplora ble and disgraceful condition; for, in a time bf profound peace,' Ake rffenue of the Goirernmenf had beo . l.ir Period of years kirMitted anmirilly to fall far be low th - e'afinual expenditures. ,Treasury notes had been annually issued to keep up thegppertranee of solvenCy. These were :finder pretest,' and selling in the marlai at a laged;'sfount.. A huin had been authorized,` and an agent Of Gov ernmi3nt despatched. to Eurripc to nego tiate -t ; and after visiting in England, and rreanlbulating the continent of Eu rope, he retnrned to tell us the Manilla . ting truth Oat the bonds of the United States xver,i unsaleable, and that we lould net borrow a dollar. Congress Passed the act of to raise the,. amount of revenue to to pay the ordinary annual ex re '.ditorr's of Gov eminent ; to pay the i; , y‘test on the loan which had be authori,ed, aid thins rc .. . store the credit of the Crove , ,nmen,t provide a sinking fund fur th lina, mint of the piddle debt, g ye, ''fair and just prole, ti,ul 't that op _ ^Tuxiu,.itiou t' :he "revenue. standard -, p !ov hied for by !he cm - twin - anise act, had almost na a of ruin. 411 tl ii purposes It r wit Hi the . law VII, PaS , Pd 1111111 , 111.11e1y realized. The ,•reilit t (;)visrumeo , instimianeous • ly To. thr !Hoofs c 1 the (morons ''nett Welt' 1011:r! It-,' ed about. un-
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