Wilmington journal. [volume], September 21, 1844, Image 1

About Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895

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WILMINGTON JOURNAL.
DAVJD FULTON, Editor.
1LFHE1 ML. Fit ICE
OUR COUNTRY, LIBERTY, AND GOD.
AND POrKIBTOM.
VOL. 1.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1844.
NO. 1.
1
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OFFICE on the south-east corner of Front and
Princess streets, opposite the Bank of the State.
AM ADDRESS
To the Freemen and Voters
of
TVortli Carolina.
Fellow-Citizens :
A solemn conviction that the lasting inter
ests of our beloved country is in a great de
gree dependent upon the approaching Presi
dential Election, forms our apology for this
address. The contests of parties have driv
en the leaders of that one which advocate the
cause of Henry Clay, to a position which is
dangerous to the safety of the Republic ; and
they are fast forcing their followers into a
course which the actual people surely do not
. realize, or in North Carolina, the "Southern
land of steady habits," there would hardly be
a division ot opinion to the proDrietv of
making resistance to Mr. Clay and his party
before it is too late. Those questions of mere
policy, in which the theory of to-day may
yield to the experience of to-morrow, without
any permanent injury, are not the only ques
tions about which the candidates for Presi
dent are disputing, and upon which the vote
of the people will be regarded as deci3ive of
their will. Such questions, though some ot
thern are confessedly important in themselves,
yet sirk into insignificance, when contrasted
with the momentous consequences of AL
TERING THE CONSTITUTION OF
THE UNITED STATES consequences
which no human wisdom can foretell.
Fellow-Citizens of North Carolina, are we
mistaken in supposing that thousands of you
have been led into error or are kept in ignor
ance of the design of Mr. Clay and his party
TO ALTER YOUR CONSTITUTION ?
We cannot believe that party excitements
Ifave so blinded you to the peril of tampering
with the sacred Charter of our Union and our
Liberties, that a serious w rning will be cen
sured, and a candid appeal to your understan
dings despised ; and if we did, it should not
prevent us from making one more effort to
reason and to demonstrate with such of our
countrymen as own no fealty to party that su
percedes lheir allegiance to the Constitution.
We approach you upon the subject with a
manly sincerity, and shall address you in that
plainnrs3 of speech which the occasion re
quires. To the various propositions which have
been made from time to time for more than 40
years past, , alter the Constitution f the U
1 nited States, North Carolina has heretofore
jj replied : 44 No, rs very good as it is, 3nd
Lf we do not wish to change the Charter of our
i- UMon." And are you ready to reverse that
answer now, by electing Mr. Clay President,
when he stands pledged to exert all the pow
ers of that high station to effect an object you
hav? hitherto so constantly and so wisely dep
recated ? If you would, under circumstances
mors favorable to harmonious and wise coun
sels, give your countenance to this spirit of
innovation, will it be quite prudent or entirely
safe to disturb the holy bonds of our Union
to touch the sacred legacy of our fathers with
the nde hands of Party Think you the lea
ders )f the Clay Party of 1844, oi the leaders
fan- party maddened as they are by political
animosities, will be exactly qualified to Reform
the nmlest work, of the " Whig statesmen of
1776," and to " amend" the Constitution
whicl WASHINGTON and his compatriots
bequeathed to us with their blessing! True
it is a human work, and of necessity therefore,
it muit partake of the imperfections belonging
,i,i J CHI I. it j
Iio an .nai man can uu. omi me dinenu
ments' to it must also proceed from human
hands, not more infallible than those which
former it. The illustrious body of Patriots
who famed the instrument were as wise if
not wber, and as pure if not purer, than the
Partiz;ns of our time. American Statesmen
oi the past age loved eacn otner, ana ineir
whole -ountry as well, if not better, than the
politiciins who have succeeded them. Hap
py woud it be for our common country, if the
present generation felt the same affection and
practised the same loyalty to the Union and
the Constitution that our Fathers felt and
practised.
With the exception of an amendment made
ith the concurrence of all the States in
1803, and a clause introduced in 1793, to pro
hibit suits against STATES, so as to pre
vent collision between them and the Courts
f the Union, the Federal Constitution re
mvrS just what it was when it was adopted
y Nrth Carolina. So let it be. We have
Jved Ser it a free, united and happy peo
ple, for Ftct years During all that time,
as well as nly8 wisdom can do it. it has
guarded popularw,ta against the encroach
ments of Power Im protected the righlfu!
authority of GoyerniW from the turbulence
ot unregulated liberty. What more could
we expect ? What more We want j Wa
nave the best Government in the world, and
ny should it be altered ! Let qot the am
bition of Demagogues nor a restl desire
or change, nor the frantic delusion of par.
ty struggling for offices, though backed by
e strength of associated wealth, tempt yon
10 pot in peril all or any of the blessings we
eojoy under it, by making experiments upon
yoor CONSTITUTION. We had better
"ear the ills we have, than flv to others we
nownotdf. You had better sav at nnnr-.
any and every aspirant for the high offices
01 overament, Wnen they solicit your sup-
port, that they cannot win it by these attempts
to alter the organic law of the Union. You
had better teach the young men who enlist in
their service aspartizans, that the first duty of
an American patriot is to revere the 44 CON
STITUTION AS IT IS." And shonld time
and experience point out the necessity for
any amendments, let the necessity be such as
men of all parties see, and men of all parties
first feel to be indispensable, before you give
your assent to them. The present point of
attack is the Constitutional VETO of the
President. Let it succeed and no man knows
what may or may not be the next. It is the
Clay party who are striving to attain power
now, by making u on this point of your j
Constitution. A& election mav find
some other party ,ulated by Mr. Clay's
juccess, to make furrW and greater inroads
upon the Charter of your liberties !
The VETO of the President is a negative
power. It was designed as a check upon
Congress, the servants of the people, and not
the people themselves. It may prevent in
calculable mischief. It cannot do harm.
It may occasionally intercept the passage of
laws, of which by universal consent we have
too many rather than too few. It cannot do
more. It does not empower the President to
touch in the slightest degree the privileges or
property of the people, but it only enables
him to forbid such interference by others,
whre he has good cause to apprehend it, he
assigning his reasons for it at the same time.
And more than all, his VETO falls harmless
ly to the srround, if after a reconsiderarion,
two thirdjs of Congress should pass the Act,
his Vet notwithstanding."
It was engrafted upon the Constitution by
those who knew what liberty was worth, and
how it might be shielded, and who suffered
much to gain it for themselves and their chil
dren. And to denounce it as 44 MONARCHI
CAL" and 44 anti-republican," (after the man
ner of many.) is an insult to your understand
ings, and an ungrateful censure upon the
Convention of '87 who formed the Constitu
tion the wisest, purest, and most illustrious
body of Republican Statesmen that the world
ever saw !
The facts in relation to the introduction of
the VETO in the Constitution are at once re
markable and instructive when put in contrast
with the combined efforts of ambition, selfish
ness and party spirit, in our day, to decry and
to destroy it. On 4th June, 1787, the Con
vention 44 Resolved that the National Execu
tive shall have a right to NEGATIVE any
44 legislative Act, which shall not be afterwards
4 passed unless by TWO-THIRDS of each
44 branch of the National Legislature." This
15
the Veto of the Constitution. Against It
there were only two votes in the Convention,
and on the 21st of July, after nearly two months
for consideration and debate, it passed U IN AIM -1M0USLY
in the AFFIRMATIVE. (See
Journals of Convention of '87, pages 56,
107.)
It may therefore be asserted upon the evi
dence of the Journals of the Convention which
first framed our constitution that the VETO
was passed by a UNANIMOUS VOTE.
And whatever may be our respect for the in
dividuals who favor it, it is difficult to treat
with courtesy the proposition that it is an odi
ous feature of Monarchy unwisely introduced
into the charter of American Liberty.
The circumstances which have contributed
more than every thing else to suggest this ex
periment of a Party upon the good old Con
stitution, are in themselves, still further cal
culated to alarm into vigilance the jealousy
of the people. General Washington exerted
the Veto power under the Constitution, and so
we believe did the elder Adams, and Mr. Jef-
ferson, and Mr. Madison, and Mr. Monroe, du
ring their several administrations, without se
rious complaint. None of them however,
with the exception of Mr. Madison, vetoed a
Bank bill; and Mr. Madison's Veto gave a
clear intimation simultaneously that by re
modelling the Bill his Veto might be evaded,
and that intimation having been acted upon,
he finally approved and signed theact. Where
fore neither General Washington nor Mr.
Adams nor Mr. Jefferson, nor Mr. Madison,
nor Mr. Monroe, was at any time constrained
to put a veto upon any favorite privilege to
Bankers. Brokers, and other Capitalists.
Their vetoes conflicted with no peculiar
measures of the Money-Party ; no interested
schemes of 44 associated wealth." And it
was fortunate for their own repose that it was
so.
But whilst General Jackson was President,
it so turned out that he put his VETO upon a
bill to re-charter the Bank of the United States.
We say nothing at present of the expediency
of a National Bank. It is sufficient that the
bill thus vetoed by Gen. Jackson, was one
which would have enriched the owners of
Stock (foreigners and natives) to an immense
amount, besides giving to them other valuable
privileges. And what followed this exercise
of a Constitutional power by the President of
the Nation ? Then, for the first time in our
history, you heard the strong language of de
nunciation against the VETO power. Then
for the first time, the tones of indignant re
probation, real or affected, were raised against
v I I 1
it as a 44 one man power. until it naa Deen
thus exerted upon the cent per cent interests of
associated wealth, you heard nothing of its
being4' anti-Republican" until a corrupt, ir
responsible, heartless money corporation stag
gered under the blow which Jackson s veto
iet fall upon its guilty head, and Barik corpo
rators and their ambitious party allies saw
the privileges of monopolies about to give
place to the higher privileges of the people,
there had been no party organized, and so far as
we know, not an eminent Statesman of Amer
ica, who had ever proposed to abrogate this
power of the Constitution. Immediately af
ter that time, however, the Bank of the Uni
ted States became an undisguised party or
gan, and with Mr. Clay for its leader, this
contest has been carried on ever since with a
deoree of violence and corruption unknown
before, in the political controversies of the
country. The Union has had no repose, and
the order of the government has been distur
bed, and the current of business w the Nation
has been interrupted by the very madness of
party spirit ever since! Wise men of every
shade of political opinion must perceive the
prevailing cause of all th is in the baulked am
bition of Mr. Clay, who has been struggling
for 20 years to be the Chief Ruler of the Na
tion, and the determination of the LEADERS
of the party in alliance with him to accom-
ui itic ifetikj in ai ii ail ,.
plish their cheraes at every hazard to public
liberty. Rule or ruin seems to be their max
im. Mr. Clay once opposed to the National
Bank as inexpedient and unconstitutional, be
came the candidate of the Bank party
for President. He himself upon the floor of
the Senate before the election of 1832, dis
tinctly made up the issue between him and
General Jackson. That issue was made, and
met, and tried upon Jackson's Veto. It was
" Clay and a National Bank, or Jackson and
No Bank." We speak to those, manv of :
whom must remember this, and if any should
deny it, the facts are indelibly recorded in the
debates of the Senate. The panic and vio-
lence of that eventful period need only be al
luded to. Words could not portray to such
as did not witness it, how the elements of
party strife were stirred into a hurricane by
the combined influence of associated wealth,
perverted talents, unblushing briberies, and
what were denominated 44 business trar.sac-
tions," aided it is true by honest advocatss of.
a Bank, whom circumstances had for the time
allied to the Bank party. To those who wit
nessed it, memory will supply our want of
language to depict it. Time has since re
vealed, what many suspected before the dis
closure was made, how polilical leaders and
members of Congress had been accommodat
ed with loans at the bank upon slender secu
rity how the purchaseable public Presses
had been bribed, and the money of the Peo
ple thereby applied to silence the sentinels of
liberty ; how the debtors had been alternately
indulged, and pxessed, coaxed, and alarmed.
But the people of North Carolina, and the
People of the United States nobly withstood
the assault, and successfully met that crisis.
They resolutely stood by the 44 Constitution
as it is" and by the vote of an immense ma
jority, sided with "Jackson and No Bank."
And so ended the first appeal.
For a short period after it, there was an ap
parent acquiescence in that determination of
the People. In 1836, all . the candidates for
President were presented to you as the oppo
nents of a National Bank. Judge White
and Mr. Van Buren (the only candidates in
North Carolina) were both pledged against it
upon Constitutional grounds, and conse
quently pledged to VETO any bill to charter
such an Institution. There was no Anti-Veto
clamor whilst Mr. Clay was out of the field,
except from the ABOLITIONISTS, who, of
course decriea all pledges to veto their fanati
cal projects, as repugnant to republican prin
ciples and adverse to the cause of Liberty and
the People, But in the progress of the next
four years, the Clay party allied themselves
to others, and by their joint efforts Gen. Har
rison wa3 elected President. In respect to
Gen. Harrison's opinions upon the Bank we
shall remark only that his declarations and
his votes in Congress were opposed to it, and
so his supporters in North Carolina denied
that he was in favor of it. His opponents
however persisted in declaring that they ap
prehended the contrary, and the Democratic
party of this State confidently predicted that
the leaders of the Clay party would go tor a
a National Bank. But, that Gen. Harrison
was in favor of the VETO is beyond all con
troversy. These were his own words as ut
tered in his Inaugural Address a few short
weeks before his death. Hear him :
44 The negative upon the acts of the legis
44 lative by the Executive authority, and that
" in the hands of one individual would seem
44 to be an incongruity in our system. Like
44 some others of a similar character, however,
44 it appears to be HIGHLY EXPEDIENT;
44 and if used only with the forbearance and
44 in the spirit which was intended by its au
44 thors, it may be productive of GREAT
44 GOOD and be found one of the best SAFE
44 GUARDS to the UNION." (Gen. Har
rison's Inaugural Address.)
Wherefore it is deceptive to say that the
election of General Harrison weakened, and
more so to assert that it reversed the old de
cision of the people to stand by their Consti
tution as it is, and to sustain the VETO.
Gen. Harrison having died soon after his
election, Mr. Tyler succeeded to his high sta
tion, and, in accordance with the predictions
of the Democratic party, a Bill to charter a
National Bank was twice passed thro' Con
gress by a majority less than two thirds, but
it was as often laid in the dust by the Veto
of the President.
Mr. Tyler in his turn was bitterly denoun
ced for it, and Mr. Clay again throwing him
self at the head of the Bank Party, upon the
floor of the Senate again made an issue be
fore the People against the VETO, and it
was sent to the people for trial in the elections
of 1842 to the Congress of 1843. We need
not tell you how it terminated. A very large
majority were returned to Congress in favor
of the Veto and against Mr. Clay and his
Bank party. So ended the last appeal. The
first, it was pretended, had been indecisive of
the question because Gen. Jackson was the
candidate, and he had a strong party of his
own. But the last decision of the People
was made the same way when it was a sub
ject of boasting then, and has been ever since,
that Mr. Tyler had no 44 party of his own."
And what has followed ? Has there been
an acquiescence in the popular will 1 Has
Mr. Clay shown in any sense a Republican
submission to the determination of the Peo
ple ? Has he not on the contrary put himself
in array against your repeated decision ;
against ali the eminent men who ever filled
the Presidential Office beginning with Wash
ington and ending with Harrison and Tyler ;
against the unanimous voice of the framers of
c ur Constitution ?
He has surely done all this, for he and his
party are now making WAR upon the Con
stitution itself. He and they were not con
tent to fight the question of Bank or no Bank
over again: but they have now gone a step
furtherand are distinctly pledged to go for
ALTERING THE CONSTITUTION OF
OUR UNION, and this is the more indefen
sible on their part, seeing that the same two
thirds which it requires to amend the Consti
tution (if the people will it so,) might pass a
Bank act, the Veto notwithstanding, and yet
more reprehensible in Mr. Clay, seeing that
the President of the United States has right
fully no voice in altering the Constitution,
and therefore he could not Itonesthj use his of
fice to effect it. This plain narrative of un
deniable facts leaves no room for doubt, that
the scheme tochange the CONSTITUTION,
originated in party-feelings and with the self
ish designs of capitalists ; and it has been
o . e ; t
prosecuted by Mr. Clay m a spirit of pride
and dicta'ion, whieh deserves to be resisted
and rebuked. What! shall one man's will thus
prevail over the Constitution to nullify the
44 one man power 1" for so the enemies of the
" Constitution as it is" designate the veto.
How inconsistent! And shall the monopoly
of the nation be allowed to strike from the
Constitution a barrier between the people's
rights and the servants they elect, 44 one of
the best safeguards to the UNION." as Gen.
Harrison called it ; upon the false pretext that
it is an anti-reoubiiean restraint uoon the ma-
joruy oi tne feopie tnemseives i now un
wise ! And shall the South who are in a mi
nority, and whose security against the danger
of attack by fanaticism reposes in this very
clause of our National charter should every
other peaceable protection fail, blindly sur
render it to oiake Mr. Clay or any man Pres
ident ? How perilous !
Nor is this all. If these habits of experi
1 a. T 1.1 1 a r
menting upon the Constitution were to be
encouraged in our leading politicians by a
present success, where and when will it stop?
What part of the Constitution will be safe
against their future attacks, and when can
we reckon upon having any repose from the
turmoils of Party spirit in its strife against
the permanency of the Government 1 If those
parts of the Constitution which were adopted
with unanimity are now sacrificed to the am
bition and covetousness of associated wealth
and the pride of a single man however eminent,
what will be the probable fate of other por
tions which were obtained by a compromise
of opinions and adopted by a lean majority 1
Will not every election of President, soon in
volve us in some other question of change in
the fundamental law of the Union 1 If vou
can be induced at this time to ratify the senti
ment that it is 44 Anti-Republican" to require
a vote oi iwo-iniras ot Congress to pass an
act in case of a Veto by the President, with
quite as much reason some aspiring dema
magofe le will insist hereafter, that it
is 44 anti -republican" to require a vote
of two-thirds to amend your Constitution ;
and after having sanctioned the first proposi
tion, how will you be able to oppose the oth
er? Already has Massachusetts proposed to
abolish the compromise by which we of the
South are taxed and represented under the
44 Constitution as it is," and the abolition par
ty every where are taking ground for the
change ; and do you think from the signs of
the times that they will find no allies no
leaders no candidate for the Presidency out
of New England ? Indeed there is hardly an
essential feature in the ancient charter f our
Union, which would not soon have a party
and a leader to make war upon it, unless the
people, the actual people, will keep off all
these innovators as they have done for forty
years, and adhering to the 44 old paths" and
to 44 the Constitution as it is," say, as with
one voice to all ambitious aspirants that they
will vote lor no man, and support no party
seeking power under a pledge to alter their
Constitution. In this there is safely, and
there is no security in any other course.
There could not be a stronger instance of
the perilous tendency of these party combina
tions and the pledges of presidential candi
dates to alter the Constitution, than you have
witnessed in North Carolina. The Clay par
ty in the United States as well as Mr. Clay
himself were solemnly committed to it, and
yet the Clay party leaders at their Convention
in this State, purposely omitted this impor
tant point in their published proceedings !
What does that signify 1 Did they mean that
this silence on their part should be construed
in opposition to the change ? Then they ow
ed you more than this negative kind of sup
port to the Constitution. On the other hand
did they mean to conceal from the public eye
that this crusade upon your Constitution was
begun by their candidate and that they were
anxious to give it success or prepared to ac
quiesce in it ? Then they were trying to
44 steal a march" upon you by their silence so
as to alter your Constitution without your
consent.
No matter what may have been the purpose
of this silence upon a question of such mo
mentous interest, and no matter what may be
the opinions of the North Carolina leaders of
the Clay party, we would this day solemnly
warn our countrymen of all parties that their
Old Charter is in danger that Mr. Clay and
his party every where out of North Carolina,
if not in it, are pledged to alter it; and if you
elect Mr. Clay President, he and they will
take it for granted that you have given your
sanction to the unholy work. Will you do
that 1 Will you agree to mar the proportions
of that venerated work of the Revolutionary
Whigs of '761 Will you take from the
South this shield to our rights of property, at
a time when these tights are violently assail
ed by the united forces of fanatical party and
party fanatics 1 Will you set the pernicious
example of changing our organic law at the
bidding of any man or any party, and open
the way for others hereafter to unsettle, or it
may be, ultimately to overturn the government
by new schemes of futuie amendments 1 We
hope for better things. We do believe that
the people of North Carolina are not prepared
to encounter this risk ; but that however much
divided upon other subjects, upon this one
they will be UNITED. The leaders of Mr.
Clay's party in this State probably think so
too, and therefore have endeavored to keep it
out of view that Mr. Clay will go for AL
TERING your constitution, whilst Colonel
Polk will go for the 44 CONSTITUTION AS
IT IS."
In thus giving to this subject the prominent
position which belongs to it, we mean not to
exclude from view altogether those important
but subordinate questions of policy upon which
the Presidential candidates are divided The
first of these is the Tariff or, as the Central
Committee of the Clay party in North Caro
lina have frankly entitled it, their Tariff
the Tariff Act of 1842.
This subject is one that has been frequent
ly discussed, and a full examination of it
would be impossible in this form of address
ing you. All that we shall aim to do at pres
ent will be to lay before the people a few un
ambitious remarks ; addressed to their patri
otism and common sense such as every body
can comprehend, and sophistry itself cannor
pervert.
We need not labor to prove that all Tax
es imposed by government are collected out
of the People directly or indirectly. If they
are collected as our State and County taxes
are, the tax is a direct one, to wit : the citi
zen takes the money out of his own pocket
and pays it directly to the government. -If,
however, they are collected as our National
Government raises its revenues, although the
people still pay the revenues of government,
they do it indirectly. That is to say, the
government collects this Tariff tax from the
importer of the articles consumed by the peo
ple, to wit : their hats, shoes, clothes, sugar,
iron, &c. The importer then adds the amount
of impost, or tax, so paid by him upon his
prick for the articles ; and when the citizen
purchases the cloth, or iron, or sugar, or other
thing to consume, he refunds to the importer
the tariff taxes in the additional price he pays,
and thereby these imposts or tariff taxes be
come an indirect tax upon the people. Never
a dollar goes into the Treasury which the
people do not in some form create under God's
blessing by their labor, and afterwards con
tribute to the government immediately or re
motely directly or indirectly. These are
plain, common truths about which there can
be no dispute, and upon which there can be
no difference of opinion. Our divisions arise
in their application. Now, then, to apply
them to the Tariff the favorite taxing system
of Mr. Clay and his party "The Tariff Act
of 1842." The returns of the Treasury De
partment show that the amount of revenue
(taxes) collected the present year is, or will
be, about forty millions of dollars ! The ex
penses of the General Government are quite
large enough, if not too great, when they
reach twenty millions. Why, then, should the
people be thus taxed twice as much as there
is any necessity for? The State of N. Caro
lina the people of both parties agree that
the government expenses should not be as
great as twenty millions. Mr. Clay himself
has said the same thing, and his party have
likewise, over and over again, declared the
same opinion. In this we concur with them
heartily and sincerely. We would therefore
repeat the inquiry, wherein lies the necessity
or the policy of taxing the people forty mil
lions for a government that ought to be ad
ministered for less than ha f that amount?
Undeniably this is done by the tariff act of
1842; and yet Mr. Clay is 44 utterly opposed
to its repeal!" and even in the South his par
ty leaders have gone with their Chief.
It is not only a burden to the people tc pay
such an excess of taxes but it produces con
sequences still more deplorable. You know,
as all men of observation must know alas !
too well that Congress, like individuals,
when they are in possession of a full treasu
ry are ant to use it extravagantly. This is
peculiarly the case with governments where
in the Representatives spend what the peo
ple pay. To denounce extravagance in your
government, and at the same time oppose a
reduction of the taxes below forty millions,
is absurd. How can you rely upon any
man's professions of economy in public ex
penses when he goes for adhering to a tariff
tax that yields forty millions a year ?
Then, again, a large revenue like forty
millions a year (which is estimated by our
opponents themselves will increase to more
will not only lead to extravagance, but extra
vagance in the government begets corruption
in its administration, no matter what party
rules, as naturally 44 as the sparks fly up
wards." The Liberties of the People and the Union
of the States are never so secure, (to say no
thing at all about the cost) as when their Con
stitution is permanent and undisturbed rthe
Nation out of debt the expenditures of Go
vernment moderate the Taxes of the people
low and ti.3 real producers of our wealth
left to manage and to use the fruits of their
own industry under the protection of equal
laws.
What would you say to a law of this State
for doubling the taxes, when one half the
amount is all that has been found necessary
for its administration? And if these double
taxes (under the Tariff of 1842,) are paid
chiefly by the farmers of the country, as we
believe they are, they have a right to com
plain against the excess; and North Carolina
being a community of farmers, might be ex
pected to reduce such burdens, regardless of
party leaders. If it must needs be, that our
farmers are taxed, in order to protect favored
classes of capitalists, is it not quite enough to
tax them ALL that the Government NEEDS?
Wherefore should they be oppressed with
double taxes? But suppose this Tariff did
not operate unequally against the farmers, for
we mean not to discuss that question now; let
it be conceded that these Double Tariff Tares
were imposed upon all sections and all classes
alike, w it hmostunerringimpartiali t y ,& tha t al 1
the People paid them in just proportions, then
is it not beyond dispute the interest of all the
people in all sections and of all classes to re
peal one half of their own Taxes, the econo
mical administration of the Government re
quiring no more for its libera! support? Nay
let.it be supposed that these DOUBLE bur
thens were now resting upon the shoulders
(four countrymen in other States, and not
upon ours, would the people of North Caro
lina be so unjust and so ungenerous as to
refuse any relief to those who pay thern, when
by taking off but one half of them, there
would still be enough for the Government,
and to spare ? What does it matter to this
question whether the North or the South, the
East or tne West, pays an equal portion
of the Taxes? When the amount of reven
ue so far exceeds the wants of the Govern
ment, Justice, Patriotism and self-interest
unitedly cry out against it. and the People,
every where, owe it to themselves, to insist
upon a diminution of such burdens, and to
eject no one President who is 44 utterly oppo
sed to it." But Mr. Clay's party leaders
have adopted this Tariff of 1842, as THEIR
OWN, even in North Carolina. Mr. Clay
has pledged himself in writing, that he is
"UTTERLY OPPOSED TO IIS RE
PEAL." Such are his own words not our.
Col. Polk has given no such unwise pledge
against the repeal of Double Taxes, not ne
cessary to an economical administration.
A Tariff for Revenue. The Tax necessary
to raise revenues sufficiently large to support
the Government, is opposed by no party ; cer
tainly it is not by us, nor by the Democratic
Party ; but we are protesting only against the
Double Taxes ; we are only resisting double
burthens ; we are opposing a system by which
Forty Millions of Dollars in Taxes are levied
for Revenue, when the Government does not
need more Revenue than Twenty Millions.
This single view of the subject would seem
to supersede the necessity tor presenting it id
any other.
The Clay Party say they are for a PROTEC
TIVE TARIFF. A system to impose bur
thens upon one class for the benefit of anoth
er, for in no other way can it be protective.
And since the elections in August it his been
proclaimed that a majority of the People of
this State are in favor of that system. Wnen,
if c r before, was the voice of North Caroli
na raised by the PEOPLE against DECREA
SING their Taxes ? Neither is it so now.
No later than the last Assembly it was 44 fc-
solved, That while Noith Carolina will
44 never object to any amount of taxes equally
44 apportioned and imposed for the purpose of
44 raising revenue to support the government
44 economically administered, yet this State
44 will never consent to the imposition of Tax
44 es, the design and operation of which are to
44 promote the interest of particular occupa
44 Hons at the general expense." This was
no party Resolution. All parties voted for it.
In the Senate there were only five votes against
it, and in the Commons only eighteen ! So in
Congress all the members of both parties
from North Carolina who voted against the
protective tariff of 1842, when it w as passed,
with a solitary exception. So from the tariff
of 1816 to that which passed in 1842, the vote
ot iNorth Carolina has been always given in
Congress against this system of taxing the
whole people for the benefit or protection of
44 particular occupations," but in favor of rev
enue duties. From Nathaniel Macon to
the time of Willie P. Mangum and his col
league in 1842, (Mr. Graham, the Governor
elect) all our Senators have voted against the
protective system. So the Journals of our
Assembly show that Congress never passed a
protective tariff that the North Carolina Le
gislature did not remonstrate and protest e
gainst it. And in perfect concurrence with
all these proceedings have been the tone and
language of the leading politicians Mind of
public meetings of the people every where,
and at all times in North Carolina, including
amongst the politicians those who now belong
to the Clay party. Indeed until a very recent
period our opponents in this State denounced
the 44 hih tariff system as (one) impoverish
ing the Southern farmer for the benefit of the
Northern manufacturer." Leading men of
all parties in the State reprobated it as a tax
the design and operation of which were to
promote the interest of particular occupations
at the general-expense" as a burden put up
on labor to benefit capital upon the poor to
benefit the rich upon the weak to benefit the
mighty as a tax upon the planters, farmers
and working-men to enhance the profits of
manufacturers, corporations and capitalists. It
were not a difficult task to tell the names ef
our eminent men who have heretofore nsed
such language, but it would swell this paper
to an unusual size, and no doubt the people
must recollect them. Now we would like to
know in view of these concurrent authorities,
what extraordinary illumination can have o
pened the eyes of our distinguished politicians,
not only to their errors but to the new & singu
lar truth, that it is both wise and constitution
al to do now, under the dictation of the Hon.
Henry Clay, what it has been unwise and un
constitutional to allow heretofore under any
other chief? And by what sort ef miracle in
the political world it has been brought about
that our TAXES have become BLESSINGS;
that it is now good for the people to be taxed;
it is still better for them to be taxed double as
much as their Government needs; and best of
all to raise a double tax out of the mass of the
people, when the Government has no need of
half of it, in order that the interest of particu
lar occupations may be promoted at the gene
ral expense? For ourselves we are not able
to see all this, nor to believe that the people
of North Carolina will see it. Wo have been
accustomed to think the people of North Ca
rolina more stable in their opinions mors
practical in their conclusion than to rnn after
such heresies. Though pained at the party
slayishness and political tergiversation of
their leaders, we do not believe that the peo
ple of our proverbially 'honest Slate' will con
sent, in blind idolatry to any man, to make a
sacrifice of their principles, as they have been
held and declared by them ever since the Con
stitution was adopted. No. No, it is not
possible; and we invoke you, fellow-citizens
to rescue our State from this imputation, and
shake off the burthen of an unnecessary and
unequal tariff; by voting against Mr. Clay
and his double tax. The people have these
taxes to pay their leaders count upon being
in power to spend them, and perhaps this is a
key to the mystery that has perplexed us. It
may be the reason why your leaders have
learned to regard taxes as blessings the mtn-t
the better. We know it is said that the Clay
party are in favor of the Tariff act of 1842 in
order to give permanency to some system, and
the cry is that 4we change surTi.riff too often;
but we feel authorized to regard this as a mere
pretext to excuse what they have net argu
ment to defend 44 Permanent taxes?" Are
the maxims ef free government to be thus
openly set at nought and reversed ? In the
earlier-days of our Republic was it not thought
to De essential to popular rights and the safelv
of the people, that the taxes should not only
oe iigni, out imposed tor the shortest period,
so as to come in frequent review before the
constituents who had them to pay ? But, be
sides that, the politicians who put up this plea
v.. iviuiaiKUbJ til II1B CAIG s WAPS, UrO
themselves, at the moment of doing so, indus
triously occupied with their schemes to break
in upon the stability of the Constitution as it
is! Why not keep the Constitationas it is, as
well as to have an unstable government with
permanent taxes, or a stable Constitution with
short-lived taxes?
We shall probably examine at another tima
the Bankrupt Law, which Mr. Clav sustained
heretofore against the known wishes of biff
State, and which he has never renounced, so
far as we can understand him. The Bank
question, upon which he was once the cham
pion of the people, but afterwards deserted,
and is now become the leader of monopolies,
will be noticed in another form. The Distri
bution of the proceeds of the Public Lands
the principles of which he opposed when Gen.
Jackson was supposed to be in favor of it, and
afterwards supported as a measure of his own-,
has been more prolific of promises than of
cash to the people of North Carolina; and we
may feel it our duty to speak of that hereafter.
The Annexation of Texas, which aa Secreta
ry of State he once endeavored to accomplish,
but now as a candidate for re8dejffiMk.
and opposes, is a question that shaflfjjEf "pre
sented and discussed bv itself. Ommm' two
1
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V