V-o^ ' ^^' <> *'*7V* ,0 *c7 • » 0^ <{. -^0^ "oy '^0^ * aV "^j, . 5^ ^c -vO<^- v-^^ v^^- ^"-^^^ V .<' •/ \.-^-^v* v^^-/ \-^-^\/ ' ^-..^^ > -K i° -no. ^^-^^ ^^-^^ ♦ 4? <*>■, O^ %^^^ •* \.^' ' r^o^ V .*ij;4 • ^0 ^^0" ;* jy o. V THE TRUE WHIG SENTIMENT OF MASSACHUSETTS *Others may look to other souTces..9r^rely^upon other foundations for their hopes of the country ; but I confess that at'hi's period of my political life, — not now an early one, — I am full of the feeling that there is but one ground upon which the good men of this country can rest their trust. I see in the dark and troubled night which is now upon us, no star above the horizon, but the intelligent, patriotic, united Whig party of the United States.' Daniel Webstek. E^-i' CONTENTS Resolutions, 3 Speech of Hon. Charles Hudson, . . .15 Speech of Hon. Daniel Webster, . . .17 Speech of Hon. R C. Winthrop, . . 18 9^ RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE WHIG STATE CONVENTION, Holden in Boston, September 23, 1846. Resolved, That this Convention, assembled for the purpose of nomi- nating candidates for the offices of Governor and Lieutenant Governor of this Commonweahh, and taking the present occasion to express their sentiments on the momentous questions which agitate and divide the country; and to recommend to the people of Massachusetts such a course at the approaching election as will tend to a restoration of the inestimable blessings of peace, the restriction of slavery within its constitutional limits, and of the Executive power within its proper sphere, the protection of American labor, the improvement of the facilities for the commercial intercourse of the several states, and the maintenance of the good order and prosperity which have distinguished the old Bay State, under the government of her present administration, hereby declare their unabated confidence in the integrity, intelligence and patriotism of GEORGE N. BRIGGS of Pittsfield, and JOHN REED of Yarmouth, and unanimously recommend them to the good people of the Com- monwealth, as the Whig candidates for re-election to the offices which they now fill, with so much honor to themselves and advantage to the state. The members of this Convention feel it to be their duty to call the attention of the people of Massachusetts to recent national occurrences, and to the present condition of public affairs. The country is in the midst of a war ; a war with a neighboring republic greatly weaker than ourselves, formed upon our model, and under the influence of our example, by a bloody revolutionary struggle ; a republic, it is to be admitted and lamented, which has not perfected its institutions, nor made that progress in the science and practice of free government, which was to have been expected; a republic which has suffered under the influence of that greatest bane to all republics, a domineering mili- tary power, and tending to place and displace civil rulers by the authority of arms ; a republic, nevertheless, which has made important advances in the cause of humanity, which has abolished slavery throughout all its possessions, and which has manifested no general spirit of hostility or agression towards the United States. With this republic we are now at war. Our armies have passed her frontier, are at this moment penetrating her interior country and threatening to seize and occupy her capital. What was the origin of this war ? For what object was it at first waged ? and for what end and purposes is it now carried on, at an expense which is involving this country in an enor- mous public debt ? These are questions highly important to be asked and to be answered. That citizens of the United States have just claims against the govern- ment of Mexico, which it has been and is the duty of their own gov- ernment to enforce, is certainly true. But the present war was not declared on this account. This is equally true. What, then, is the origin of the war ? In considering this question, for the present purpose, it is not necessary to complain of the annexation of Texas to the United States. Neither is it necessary to justify or excuse the delay of Mexico in acknowledging the independence of Texas, so long after that fact seemed to be so well established. Supposing Mexico to have been wrong to any extent in refusing to acknowledge the independence of Texas, and supposing Texas to have been constitutionally annexed to the United States, still it is not true that Mexico has made war on the United States on account of this annexation. The true origin of the war was an invasion by the troops of the United States. Mexico had always regarded the river Nueces as the western boundary of Texas, with as little doubt as we regard the St. Lawrence to be a part of our northern frontier. W^ithin this boundary the troops of the United States were stationed, having been sent thither for no very apparent or urgent cause. In March last, these troops were ordered to proceed to the Rio Grande, and thus entered upon a territory, which Mexico con- tended had never been a part of Texas, but was still her own, though the whole of Texas had been severed from her. There are strong grounds upon which Mexico may hold the Nueces to be the true boundary, and, therefore, even if we state the case most favorably for the United States, still the territory between that river and the Ilio Grande was a disputed territory. INIexico denied that it had ever been part of Texas, and denied therefore that it could now belong to the United States, even admitting that the United States were the lawful owners of the whole of Texas. Into this territory the American army having been ordered to proceed by the sole authority of the President, and being on this teiritory met and resisted by a INIexican military force, the Congress of the United States, by tlie art of loth May last, declared that war actually existed between Mexico and the United States, and made provision for its prosecution. Now, in the judgment of this Convention, it is plain that this war had its origin in an illegal and unjustifiable act of the l^resident of the United States. No act of Congress and no treaty had established the Tlio Grande as the boimdary of Texas. The country between that river and the Nueces had always been claimed by Mexico — was still claimed by her, and was in her actual possession. The ordering of the 5 American army into thai territory was nothing less than the direct invasion of a foreign country, with which we were at peace, and against which Congi-ess had authorized no military operations whatever — by the sin- gle act of the President. This invasion of ttie territory of a foreign and friendly state, by the sole authority of the President, we cannot but regard as an act of direct and enormous usurpation, setting at naught the principal restrictions of the Conslilulion, and tending to establish, in the hands of the Execu- tive, an absolute power of war. As to the objects for which this war has been waged, the Government itself gives little or no information. Assuming the fact that, on the 13th of May, war actually existed, the Administration calls on Congress and the country for men, money, and means for prosecuting it, with no distinct avowal of the purposes to be accomplished by it, and on the accomplishment of which it is to cease. In the meantime military forces are moving in various directions into the heart of the republic of Mexico, taking possession of towns and places as they go. It becomes, therefore, a matter of the deepest national concern, to inquire and to know for what purpose this invasion is prosecuted. Is it to acquire more territory ? If it be, is that territory, when acquired, to be one in which slavery is to be established ? and is it then, with slavery existing in it, and as its characteristic, to form another annexation to the Union ? It seems impossible that all men of sense and patriotism, of whatever party, especially in the Free States, should not press this inquiry ; that they should not be startled and alarmed at the prospect before us ; and that they should not, with a loud and united voice, protest against the prosecution of the war for any such purpose. And we earnestly beseech all, who are opposed to the extension of human slavery, and to the addition of further Slave States to the Union, to rouse them- selves to immediate action, to forego all minor differences, to act in harmony and concert, to call the Executive Government to a strict account for the past, and by every constitutional means to prevent the further prosecution of such nefarious schemes. In the name of Lib- erty, in the name of Humanity, in the name of our Holy Religion, we invoke the attention of all men to this important subject ; and as the sense of this Convention be it Resolved, That the present war against Mexico originated in an illegal and unauthorized act of the President of the United States ; that, so far as we have means of judging, it is now waged for conquest and the acquisition of territory, with the intent that the territory, so acquired, shall be formed into slaveholding states, and as such added to this Union; and that we hold this war, so far as it is really carried on for'these purposes, to be unjustifiable and wicked; and therefore as calling for the reprobation of all true patriots and all good men. Resolved, That the passage of the Tariff bill of 1846, adopting new and vicious principles in our Revenue system, is a portentous experi- ment, threatening disturbance and injury to the great interests of the country. Resolved, That from the first establishment of the Federal govern- merit, two principles liave been embodied in our Revenue laws ; tlie first, that as far as practicable, all duties should be specific, as most simple in collection and most secure against fraud ; the other, a discrimina- tion in the rates of duty, with a view to foster and protect the industry of the country, and to 'invite capital into the establishment of manufac- tures. These principles, distinctly recognized in the first act of Con- gress, in 1789, more fully developed in 1816, and in subsequent acts of legislation, were fully consummated in the act of 1842; an act, which, moderating and reducing the protective duties of the act of 1832, (an act receiving the sanction of nearly the entire Democracy of the coun- try) was prepared with more labor and care, it is believed, than had been bestowed on any previous revenue law. Resolved, That under this system, the whole country has prospered in a degree which has no parallel in the history of nations. Whilst the western wilderness has been giving place to cuhivation and civili- zation, the older states have been transplanting and establishing the arts and manufactures of Europe, thus converting the whole country into a scene of active industry, in which diversified labor, mutually exchanging its products on terms of equality, realizes a remuneration and reward wholly unknown in the overpeopled countries of the old world. Resolved, That we deprecate the changes introduced by the Tariff of 1846, for the following reasons : We deprecate the change from specific to ad valorem duties, as affording increased facilities to fraud, as setfing aside the light of all experience, and the opinions of all com- mercial men. We deprecate it as a revenue measure, inasmuch as it reduces the revenue upwards of five millions of dollars, on the average importation of the last three years, whilst our war expenditures require a great increase of revenue, and are actually met by an increase of debt in the issue of treasury notes. We deprecate the principles of attempt- ing to provide for this deficiency, by an increased importation of pro- ductions to come in competition with our own, displacing and par- alyzing to an equal extent our own industry, and eventually producing a general reduction in the wages of labor. We further deprecate the principle of increasing the importation of foreign manufactures, always tending to excess, and to causing the exportation of specie in return, the fruitful source of derangement in our currency, and of embarrass- ment in all branches of trade and industry. We deprecate this sudden change, as wantonly sporting with the interests of capital invested under the implied pledge of government for its continued protection. But we deprecate it far more, as wantonly sacrificing the interests of labor, by opening upon it the foreign competition of the under-fed and over-worked labor of Europe, the avowed purpose of the new policy. We deprecate it as the result of Executive dictation, and stringent party discipline, adopted under the coercion of a minority, without examination and without discussion, against the sober judgment of a majority of both houses of Congress. Rcsohed, That the allegation tliat the protective system favors cap- ital more than labor, is ecjually contradictory to every sound principle of political economy, to all experience, and to common sense. Whilst capital is considered necessary to set labor in motion, it is an admitted principle that there is a uniform tendency, in capital employed in dif- ferent pursuits, to an equalization of profits through a free competition. Whilst other propositions are disputed, this is never contested. It is confirmed by all our experience. Every branch of manufacture which has been successful, has been subjected to occasional checks and em- barrassments, through over action. The prosperity which has followed the establishment of the tariff" of 1842, has led to new construction and new expenditures in all branches of industry, beyond any former precedent. In fact, we are told by the friends of the administration, as if in double mockery of their own reasoning and our own apprehensions, that the manufacturer has more to fear from home comj)eiition and over-production^ than from any foreign competition which can reach him under the present tariff. It is, in fact, obvious to the most simple understanding, that the investment of capital in works which can only be made productive by the employment of many hands is putting caphal in the power of labor, rather than in a position to control it. Resolved^ That the assertion so oft repeated, that the tariff" of 1842 has operated as an unequal tax upon the laboring classes in the manu- factures consumed by them, is wholly destitute of truth. Our applica- tion of manufacturing industry has always been made in the first instance to those productions requiring little labor in proportion to the raw material. In these the success has been greatest, and it is notorious that in the manufacture of cotton, wool, leather, hats, &c., the common articles used by the laboring classes, are produced at prices which may defy all foreign competition. Even the cotton minimum, the object of so much undeserved obloquy, is well known to be all but nominal in respect to the lower branches of the manufacture, and that its only actual eff'ect was to levy a high duty in its higher branches on what may well be termed luxuries. Resolved, That while the loss of capital by this change of system is sudden and determinate, the eff"ect upon labor will be a continuous, wasting disease, with no remedy, but the retracing our steps. Resolved, That the high reward of labor in all its branches is the peculiar advantage of our country — is intimately connected with the general diffusion of education and intelligence, and is the best security for the permanence of our free institutions. The protective system acts as the proper guardian of this boon. Resolved, That while we welcome and approve the repeal of the British Corn Laws, as a concession and benefit to the depressed labor of England by increasing its means of subsistence, the government is acting a very diff'erent part towards our own labor, in opening its prod- ucts to a free competition with those of the underpaid laborers of Europe. Resolved, That the principle of free trade advocated by the modern economists of Europe is founded on a state of society essentially dif- ferent from our own. It contemplates labor in excess, content with a bare subsistence and with no hope of improving its condition. It 8 regards only the profits of capital. With us labor is active in accumti'- lation for itself, going hand in hand with capital and requiring espec- ially the shield of the protective system against foreign interference. — Therefore Resolved, That it is the duty of the Whig party and of all friends of their country to urge upon Congress the duty of revising and modifying the existing tariff of 1846, so that it may furnish rev- enue sufficient for the wants of the government and re-establishing the principle of specific duties in all practicable cases, and of discrimina- tion in the rates of duty with a view to foster and protect the industry of the country in all its branches. Resolved, That whilst Massachusetts is deeply interested in the pro- tection of her capital and her labor devoted to manufacturing and the mechanic arts, it is a great mistake, propagated for party purposes, and received by a too easy credulity, that protection is a local or partial policy. We esteem it a policy equally favorable to every part of the country and to all the States of the Union. Resolved, That the people of this Commonwealth and of all the United States may well be congratulated on the peaceful and honor- able settlement of the controversy with England respecting the Oregon territory. Such a setdement is in accordance with the spirit of the age — it is becoming to two great and powerful nations ; which could not have adjusted such a controversy by war, without guilt on one side or the other, as well as an incalculable amount of suffering and bloodshed on both. For this happy termination of a long standing national difficulty, the country is mainly indebted to the Senate of the United States. The adjustment has been no work of the present Administration. In his inaugural message, in March, 1845, Mr. Polk declared the right of the United States to the whole of Oregon to be clear and indisputable. He, nevertheless, entered into a correspondence on the subject with the British Minister at Washington, but in August of that year the corres- pondence was broken oft", the American offers were retracted, and the whole matter was thrown back upon Mr. Polk's inaugural declaration that our title to the whole of Oregon was clear and indisputable. After this, two friendly offers of arbitration, made by the British Minister to the American Government were rejected by the Administration ; and here terminated all and singular the labors and efforts of the Adminis- tration to bring about the settlement of the Oregon question. From that time forward, it made not one step towards such settlement — it made no new offer to Great Britain — it made no offer of reference — it invited no new discussion of terms ; bnt the President, having recom- mended to Congress the discontinuance of the joint occupation of that territory then subsisting under the authority of treaties. Congress took occasion to discuss the question, to inquire into the respective rights of the parties, and to suggest proper ground for terminating the contro- versy by a partition of the territory. It is needless now to refer to those discussions, although the country will never forget the prudence, temper, and ability with which they were conducted by many members, especially in the Senate. These discussions showed to England what manner of adjustment was prac- ticable; and the English Government, with this view of things before it, made a proposition which the Senate advised the President to accept ; although, as he stated, if left to himself, he would have rejected it. The President, therefore, had nothing to do, and did do nothing in the matter, but to give his assent to a proposition, which the Senate had before recommended. So that this treaty assumes the singular charac- ter of having been in fact negotiated by the Senate, and only assented to by the President. The Whig Senators of the United States, and those honorable men of the other party, who acted with them, are entitled to the warmest thanks of the people of the country, for their able and successful efforts in thus settling, peaceably and honorably, the only remaining contro- versy between the United States and Great Britain. Resolved, That the people of Massachusetts have witnessed with pleasure and patriotic pride the able and devoted efforts and labors of their Representatives in both Houses of Congress, during the late im- portant and arduous session, and that those Representatives are entitled to a high degree of gratitude and respect from their constituents, and from the country. Resolved, That while the Whigs of Massachusetts have at all times observed with interest, admiration, and pride, the entire public life and services of Daniel Webster, they have observed with peculiar pride, with heightened admiration, and with a more affectionate interest, his position and course during the last session of Congress — that with exultation, but without surprise, they have seen him stand unharmed by the shafts of malice, and converting the assaults of detraction into an opportunity of glory — that he has vindicated, to the conviction of every just mind, one of the great acts of his life, the negotiation of the Treaty of Washington, and the correspondence connected with it, on the subject of maritime rights and the impressment of American seamen. So that there now no longer remains a doubt that, in the words of that correspondence, ' in every regularly documented Ameri- can vessel, the crew who navigate it will find their protection in the flag which is over them ' — that his ardent love of country, his enlarged statesmanship, and his unbending republicanism, are worthy of all honor, gratitude and trust — and that we avail ourselves of this first general assembling of the Whigs of Massachusetts, since the close of the last session of Congi'ess, to record these deliberate opinions and these cherished feelings, and to avow our conviction that, at no distant day, the people of the country will take the vindication of his fame and the reward of his labors into their own hands. Resolved, That among the most surprising events of the last session of Congress, are the President's two vetos, one of the Harbor bill, and the other of a bill indemnifying the sufferers by French spoliations prior to 1800. It is no unusual occurrence in human events, nor an 10 uncommon fealnre in human character, that rashness is attempted lO be passed off for resolution, and violence for strength. The veto power was lodged in the President by the constitution, to be exercised only on high and solemn occasions, when such exercise might be deemed indispensably necessary to preserve the constitution itself from invasion, to avert an open and imminent danger, or to arrest some sudden act of legislation, which might threaten pernicious and irreme- diable consequences. The framers of the constitution took it for granted, that the office of President would always be filled by charac- ters of great distinction, eminent talents, long experience in public affairs, and possessing the assured confidence of the community. In such hands it was thought the veto power might be safe — safe against frequent and daily use, safe against party influence and party purposes, safe at least against open and flagrant abuse. But, in these recent instances, it would seem that the President of the United States consid- ers himself, by virtue of the veto power, as another branch of the Leg- islature, with as general a right to concur or non-concur in proposed measures of legislation, as is possessed by the Senate or House of Representatives. It is true, that in one of these vetos, that applied to the Harbor Bill, he undertakes to place his objection on constitutional grounds; but they are such grounds as have been discussed, and considered, and refuted time and again. There is no one provision in the Harbor Bill, ■thus negatived by the President, the principle of which has not been sanctioned by every predecessor in the office which he holds, from Washington's time down to the time of James K. Polk. What cer- tainty can there be, or what stability in government, if individual opinions, or individual preferences, may at any time be set up, not only against both Houses of Congress, but against the constant practice of the government from its foundation. In this veto of the Harbor Bill we see evidences of self-respect, such as in other cases would surprise mankind. When nominated for the Presidency by a party convention, to the surprize of a great portion of the party itself, as well as to the astonishment of the country, Mr. .lames K. Polk was wholly unknown to a great majority of the people of the United States. He had never been in men's minds for any such distinction. He had been a member of Congress, respectable, but not eminent nor distinguished. He was a lawyer in Tennessee, of respectable practice, no doubt, but wholly unknown in tiic National Courts, and having had no habits nor principles fitting him, in any singular degree, for the discussion or decision of great Constitutional questions, yet in the strength of his own opinion, and for reasons, which, as stated by himself, hardly aspire to the dignity of respecta])le argument, he nc^gatives solemn acts, passed l)y botli Houses of Con- gress, containing no ])rinciple nor any constitutional construction, which had not been approved by Washington and Jefferson, INTarshall and Madison, and sanctioned and acted on by all preceding admin- istrations. Now what can more seriously impair the value of the National 11 Constitution, or diminish the regard which good men are disposed to feel for it, than 1o admit, or to be obliged to perceive, that no length of practical interpretation, no series of acts of legislation, no authority of judicature, and no general sense and understanding of the country can preserve its provisions against the innovations of merely personal opinions and rash disregard of all authority, all precedents, and all other men'^ judgments ? Mr. Polk's second veto was imposed upon the bill for indemnifying those of our citizens, who were supposed to have just claims upon the government, founded in this, viz: that having had just claims for spoiliations on the government of France, the government of the United States, by agreement with France, released her from all these claims, on condition that France, on her part, would release the government of the United States from certain burdensome treaty stipu- lations, which had been at an early day entered into. Congress thought this a clear case of taking private property for public use, and therefore a clear case for indemnity to the owners of the property. They there- fore passed a bill for this purpose, and this bill Mr. James K. Polk negatived. It would be useless to consider his reasons ; they are all either unfounded in fact or inconclusive, and some of them frivolous, in argument. His message shows that he did not understand the case — yet he put his veto on the bill, not on any constitutional ground, but merely on his own opinion of the policy and propriety of the measure. Such is the President, whom party, in its recklessness, has placed at the head of the government of the United States ! ! Resolved, therefore, That these vetos of the President were wholly uncalled for and imj^roper — are at war with the spirit of the Constitu- tion, and tend to establish a practice, the effect of which must be to give to the Executive Chief Magistrate a supreme control over the whole legislation of the country. Resolved, That the true remedy for this growing and most alarming evil is, not in attempting to alter the Constitution, but in the election of such persons, and such persons only, to the Presidency, as understand that sacred instrument, as have given evidence of being imbued with its principles, and are ready at all times to obey it and to be governed by it, in the spirit and in the leUer, as it is received by the country, and as it has been understood and administered by the wise and the good men, who have gone before us. Resolved, That it is the bounden constitutional duty of Congress to make just appropriations, out of the National Treasury, for all neces- sary improvement and preservation of the harbors on the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico, for the greater facility and convenience of commerce; and in like manner to construct and improve harbors and places of refuge on the lakes, for the better preservation of men's lives and property ; and to clear the great rivers of the West from whatever obstructs their navigation. And that the Whigs of Massachusetts will cheerfully concur, under a wise and prudent administration, such as shall not be given to the policy of vetos, narrow discriminations and miserable quibbles and absurdities, in eftecting all great useful and necessary objects of this kind, in all parts of the Union. 12 7?.,n7„.r7 That the passage of the Sub-Treasury law, if it be intend- R.iw Tha IheWhiffS of Massachusetts regard s avery as a :,tSy':s rc:nll^n';Vot alleg-Jc^e to the constitution, and our ''t;.:/;e'rtfaTtt Wh,Vs'°otSachusetts wiU continue to use ail ^fhzzi =;^^rnatfri$f 531 L; measures calculated °to ttphold ^';y"J'-^j:^l/^^1^ tional measures for^tsoverU^w and wm^^^^ uncompromising zeal and tirmness, du^, i^w'. tor v formed • and that -;sfy^:rin'ii£"n>^=c°ers:r=e™^^^^ heVfrican race on this continent. If, under the government of Prov- edged, there let universal freedom and equal laws be pioclaimed "^iesolved, As the settled and d-p eonvietion of Ais C»vem of Washinc^ton's administration — prmciples, the atlheicnce lojyii Tn'liglr ted In" AnTKe iudgemen. of tWjConvcntio,, the true interests of the people imperatively roqnn-e that 'he great Wh'S P^ Y should be maintained in its inlegnly and tipon its own t,uo ba,.., without sub-division of a local or any other kin