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To The Hartford Committee

To The Hartford Committee image
Parent Issue
Day
16
Month
September
Year
1844
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Luvi;r Saginaw, MilIi., August 15, 1644. S Gsx tlemen:- Your letter of the Ist nstnnt. carne 10 lrmda few daysago. You do ma but jus', tice n according tome entire wüluigiioss to communicale the opinions tlint I entertain on aubjecls of national concern to siich of my feUow chizens as feel enougrh of interest in kaowing what ihey are, to rnakc inqtiïry ot' me in r'elation to them. Í proceed therefore to onswer your questiona in the order in whioii they appear in your letter- excepl the firk, relaiing to the TariflT. On this, I comrnunicnied my viewa yery rcently to a gentletínn in ■ Putsburgh. Ho wil!, doubtlesa, publish the letter in whieh these views are presentèd, iflio has not already done so. To that letter I beg to refer you for my an3wer to your first interrogatory. 2. I am not in faror of distributing the proceedsof the Public Lands among the Statee, by handing orer to each Siate it.s proportional dhare. The most sale, simple, just and effcctual wuy to make them áúbserve the interostsof all the States now existing, as well as of othera that ruy heraatter, be admitted jnto the Union, is to place them in the Treasury of the United Statea.3. Congress has power under the Constitution to establish a National Bank. Oppoeite views of ihis power have been taken at different times by Congress. The consiituüonul puint, however, has beoñ Bub'mitwd to üic Supreme Court- ihe tribunal provided by the constitution for aulhorltativdy dVqfding tlils and uil such quetions. Thai tribunal lias decided n favor of the constitu.ionality of a National Bank. In thia decisión 1 fully concur. 4. I am not in favor of creating a Ntiional Bank whilst slavery is continuod in our country. Slave Labor, on a large cale, can never support itself; or, I should ratber say, it can ncvor support theindolence and the prodigality, which it never fails to beget iii those who lay.daim to its fruits. It has been estimated that the eíave otates were indebted to the free, in at least, three hundred millions of dollars at the crash of ]837. J am not aware that thia esiimate haa been called in qnestion. becauae of the Iargeness of the eum. The interest on it, I suppose, was not paid to any considerable exlent, befor the principal was discharged by the legal Bankruptcy of the debtors. The laie National Bank, rvviih iis branchea extending throughout the Southaftbrded great iacil ities to that insolvent portion of the coi'iirry for posseaaing itselï of the honeatly earned.. and often the har.tU-earno'd capital of the North.- ï would nu: renevv these faciliiies. What might be rny vievrson tbis subject, if all the labor of ihe country were frtt, it would, porhaps, be eupe;fluous in ijs now to say. Commercial nien of all partios peau fnvorably of the present state of the Exchangea throughout the country. As it haa been brought about by the natural course of commercial dealings, it is. J think. more to be relied on, as a permanent condüioii than if if had been pfoduced by a forced or artificial procesa, As to the safeiy and availabrlity of a National Bank as a depoaitory and fiscal agent of the goverument- I slióuld think favorably of it, ifthe time phoitld ever come,.when the general welfare jf ihe country woöldcail for euch an insutuÚOXXi 5. JVly mind strongly indines to the opinión, :bfit, Congress can rightfully abolish slavery in .uue of war,'n may also abolish it ia time oï vcucü. k. vieiouff nud rianaerous state of ihing9 êxisttng n-ihe community gencrally, or in any pnrt of it. uayaa ccrêainiy, if not as suddenly become as ïostructi ve of the government n a period of peace is of war. The principie lhen,on which Congrces night riglrtfully proceed to abolish slavery asa nea8ure of relief anJ snfcty in war, might be qual!7 arfplieable and imperative, on the same jrounds, rrr time of peace. In both caees the nslatit at whicli Emancipación would bo orderedr io taite piace would depend on the sound judgementof the governnient. As a peopie, we have unriertnken beíbre God and the naüons of' the eartby to niaintain 'm our t politcál organization the principies of' Liberty as) serted in the Declaration of independeiice, and ; subsian-tially ineorporated into tho Constiiuiion. Thus have we voluntarily brouglit oureelves under a guaramy, to purgó our country from whatever af inconsistent wiih these principies. No:h l ing ís more palpabry so tiran slavery. We are f undei arpledgé, then, to. tlïo worJd and (o one another to aboJish it: and in so Taras uur govern, mem lias permitted lavery tu remain at ease - , ïiiuch more to enlarge and mugnify iiaelf - it has proved recreunt to its adlemo imdertaking - hos ' brouglu on us. as a peopie, the charge of hypoc! nsy and disüotfored cw before the fjoavéns and the earih. PersQirs of great experitnco and intelligencc, asjurists. have satisiied thiimselves that the Constituüon authorize8 in exprejs temía the fulfcl- ment oi this guaranty. by tlie goverumeirt. Con; gresa, say tbcy, has nothing to do wifh the rela. tion of Master and Slare, Neillier the relation i:self, nor the parties betvveon whom it existe are any whcre mentioned in the Constiiirtion, whilst at the sanit time (Amendincnt IV.) it declares ' that no "person" sball bo deprived of Liberty without due procesar of lavv: - andtiiis without the slightest referenco to his being n native or a eigner - a cilizun oran alien - black, or white. - ( Thosö who are called "slaves" at the South are called "pcrsuTui" in the Constitutiorr. A-re these ■persons} eprivedof their liberty? Yes. By due procesa of lavv? No. Theu why, it may be asked, are they not entitlod to the benefits of the ' constitutional provisión wjthin the worda and spirit of they are so cspressly brought? ' Butshould tho Liberty party be brought into : power, a proceoding wholly uuobjctionnblo as to ila c-insiitmionaltiy- as simple asit is coiisiituiional, and one thut vrould provo as círectuiil as it is simple, would,' doubtless be adopted for the abolition of slavery. It is io confine the , menta to office undor tho government ro such as . are not slaveholders-. Tfiujiistneas and the propriety of such a course would bc as " ble as itaother characterisiicá: or surely nothing l c-ould be more rcasonable tlian to e.xclude froni all sharo in the adininistralion ol' the government t - from its officcd and its honors - those whose whole 1 i ves are passed in open coatenijit of its 'fundamental prm'pies!(i. li a iny opinión that Congrega can siop the (Jo'iHíücB!ae irado beiwaeii tiio States undor ihat provisión ol t!ic Constmnion whicb gives it the power to regulate commurcearnoDg thein. - ít ii be aid ihiit, Congrosa has no power 10 obobstruct the transit or removal of ■p&Ttons (roa: oneof iho Staiesinto another- i inny lie replied. ; that, í Commerce layjier Ivmds un "persons" and the;n into (kings to doul ín, uUe bringe licrseilby thatact, ana in. rdaiion t" Üiai maíier, compleielj wiilun tlm acope ol' tira Coíatitutiuncl proTinion. í ought nol joconclut'e lilis reply to your communication. whíidiimalmg, ihat :,ll T;iy viows of inattors jnerdy nf pobcij are grc&tly quulilied by tho coneiderau.jn of ihuir pr.-iciicabiü'y, consisten'ly vritl theharnjony and tlic fraterna] fceüngs ofour whole popularion; a? we!l as by a decíded preferenceof ectnomyj simplicity, inijiartiulity and díTéefness. in thö inniingemtnt of puhlic aftairs, over whot ís prodiga! or artificial or cxcluaive or indirect. Tho genius and spirit of our popuhtion will not bear patiently wirli any other syótem of adniinistration: - he wbo cíísregards or overlooks thia truth, provc-s himseli in.cojnpetent. as a ctatesman, for the country and tho limes in which his lot : coat. ,1 remain, gentlemen, Tery rfspectfully vour rnoatob't sp.rv't.Tu Mess'8. Lucinn O. Jone?, Salmón N. Hurt. Roben M. Beebe, Cortimmee &c.

Article

Subjects
Signal of Liberty
Old News