hundred and thirty-two men with arms in their hands." What if South Carolina had "resolved" not to wait, but to annex Texas at once, leaving her eight-and-twenty sisters to their fate? What would have been the fate of the North? Already does affrighted fancy picture to our eye the South Carolinian general

the terrible Quattlebum, himself a war, his words battles, -his forty-third regiment leading the way, and his "two thousand eight hundred and thirty-two men, with arms in their hands," reaching o'er many a yard of solid ground, and marching north, as when a cloud "with thunder fraught comes rattling o'er the Caspian!" Town after town falls into his hands; state after state; Baltimore is his; Philadelphia has surrendered to Quattlebum; the Palmetto waves over New York; New England "is not a circumstance" in his way. What avails the memory of Lexington and Bunker Hill? Vain is the skill of General Scott and General Taylor; Commodore Stewart is taken captive; even General Thumb is reduced to despair. Texas would be not merely annexed, but actually spread over the whole land, and the mouths of "our fanatical brethren of the North" literally stopped with Texan dirt. But no this is fiction, oh gentle reader, not fact. There is this peculiarity of South Carolinian valor: it is very valorous before the time of danger and after the time of danger, but in the time of danger, all at once it loses its identity, statical and dynamical, and becomes- DISCRETION. It is the better part of valor. He was a wise man who bid his legs, which were cowards, carry his brave heart out of danger. In the times of nullification in 1832, the great oath of Andrew Jackson laid South Carolinian valor low in the dust; to accomplish that in 1844 it took only the common swearing of John Tyler. It was needless to shoot at such an adversary; it was not worth the shot, for the poor little thing fell of itself and died of the fall. The coast of South Carolina is said to be windy, and the characteristic of the seashore has been communicated to the politicians of the state: her politics, indeed, are like a bag of wind, and we think there was not a big screw loose" in the state, but only a big string had slipped off. The only aggressive act committed by the petulant little commonwealth, spite of the resolutions of its forty-third regiment, of the "decided determination" of the "two thousand eight hundred and thirty-two men with arms in their hands," and the scheme of "combined Southern resistance," or "at any rate, State resistance," the only aggressive act of South Carolina was

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the expulsion of an unarmed gentleman on the 5th of December, who had been sent from Massachusetts to look after her own citizens. Thus was " abolition repelled. After that the valor of South Carolina flattened away as the wind had blown out, and for a long time all was quiet, not a general stirring. There are noble elements in the State, and some noble men. If ever it becomes a democracy and not an oligarchy; if the majority ever rule there, we shall see very different things, and South Carolina will not be a proverb in the nation.

Mr. Polk was elected. On the 25th of Jan., 1845, the Joint Resolution for annexation passed the House of Representatives, by a vote of 120 to 98, and soon after the Whig Senate by a majority of two votes; it was signed by the President on the 1st of March. So the work of annexation was completed before Mr. Polk came into power, though by no means without his aid. If this could have been done justly, without extending Slavery, few men at the North would have had cause to complain. We do not blame the Texans for de siring independence, or achieving it; we find no fault with extending the area of freedom over the whole world. We rejoice to extend the institutions of liberty over all North America, and should be glad to see the "honorable Senator" from Labrador or the Lake of the Woods, in the American Congress. We cannot think that Mexico had just cause of war in the bare act of annexation. But when we remember, that America colonized Texas for the sake of wresting it from Mexico, who would not sell it; that Americans got up the Texan revolution, and fought it through, and did all this for the sake of getting nine Slave "states as large as Kentucky;" that this was done secretly, fraudulently, with a lie on the lips of the government-we must say the deed itself was a base deed, and the motive base and miserable.

Such was the state of foreign affairs. In all that concerned. domestic welfare, the nation was never so well off before. There had been a considerable period of remarkable prosperity. It must be a very bad government which, in four years, can seriously injure a nation like this, where so little depends on the central power. Mr. Tyler appealed to the judgment of posterity for his vindication; we have no desire to antici pate the verdict which will be rendered, but certainly no party was sorry when he went out of office.

During the year ending June 30th, 1845, the imports of the

United States amounted in value to $117,254,564; the exports to $114,646,606. The national revenue was $29,769,133.56; the expenditures $29,968,206.98. There was a balance in the treasury of $7,658,306.22. The amount of public debt on the 1st of October, was $17,075,445.52.

The peculiar and distinctive Ideas of the party are set forth in the Resolutions of the Baltimore Convention which, having ideas, published its platform-and in the inaugural address of Mr. Polk. Some of them were expressed in a negative and some in a positive form.

"It is inexpedient and dangerous to exercise doubtful constitutional powers."

Government has no right "to commence and carry on a general system of internal improvement."

"Justice and sound policy forbid the federal government to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of another, or to cherish the interests of one portion to the injury of another portion of our common country.”

"In levying discriminating duties, taken

care should be not to benefit the wealthy few at the expense of the toiling millions."

"Congress has no power to charter a national bank." "Such an institute is . . of deadly hostility to the best interests of the country, dangerous to the republican institutions and the liberties of the people." "Separation of the moneys of the government from banking institutions is indispensable."

"Our title to the whole of Oregon is clear and unquestionable." The distinctive measures proposed were as follows:

1. "The separation of the money of Government from banking institutions."

2. “A Tariff for Revenue."

3. "The Re-occupation of Oregon."

4. "The Re-annexation of Texas."

It is to be regretted that these measures were seldom submitted to a scientific and careful examination. They were abundantly discussed in Congress and out of Congress, but almost wholly in the spirit of party. Some of them were finally carried by a mere party vote; measures, too, on which the welfare of the nation was thought to depend. As we look over the speeches made in reference to the Tariff or the Subtreasury, we find ability enough; now and then a knowledge of the subject in hand, though that is far enough from

common -but fairness which is willing to see good in the measures of a political opponent we almost never find: a man must be a "good Whig," or a "good Democrat," or a "good Free Soiler;" must favor nothing but the ideas, the measures, the deeds, and the men of his party.

In his first message, (Dec. 2d, 1845,) Mr. Polk recommended the establishment of a "constitutional treasury as a secure depository for the public money, without any power to make loans or discounts, or to issue any paper what ever as a currency or circulation.' In conformity with this suggestion, a bill was reported with a proviso called "the specie clause" that all payments to or from the government should be made in gold or silver. This bill passed the House by a vote of 123 to 64, the Senate by 28 to 24, and went into operation on the first of January, 1847, though the government did not pay specie till the first of April following. It is instructive to look at the speeches of eminent men, and the remarks in the leading newspapers, and see how partyspirit can blind the eyes of practical men, otherwise far-sighted. It was thought so much specie would be locked up in the Subtreasury that there would not be enough for common business; "the drain would become onerous, indeed, if not insupportable." The National Intelligencer, of October 10th, 1846, thought it was a "scheme only congenial to despotic governments, and utterly incompatible with the habits, the conveniences, and the whole social structure of free communities; " "every day's experience proves its impracticability, and its mischievous nature, even were it practicable." But before the end of the year, Mr. Polk could say with truth, (Message, Dec. 8th, 1846,)" that the amount of gold and silver coin in circulation in the country is greater than ever before." The banks were kept from "inflating" the currency. The measure has proved itself a wise one. Its good effect in retaining coin in the country, and thus preventing a suspension of specie payment by the banks during the terrible commercial crisis of 1847-1849, was felt throughout the land, and is now pretty extensively acknowledged. The administration deserves the gratitude of the people for this measure. But what Whig journal will venture to do justice to the Subtreasury! Mr. Gallatin says well:-"the practice convert every subject .. into a pure party question destroys altogether personal independence and strikes at the

to

very roots of our institutions. These usages of party make every man a slave, and transfer the legitimate authority of the majority of the nation, to the majority of a party, and consequently to a minority of the sovereign people."

Mr. Polk also recommended a "Tariff for Revenue;" Mr. Walker, the Secretary of the Treasury, presented his scheme of such a Tariff. In due time a bill was reported. The general tone of the discussion in Congress and out of it indicated very clearly the state of the country, and was a good example of the manner in which the most important political matters are investigated. We think there was no impartial discussion of the subject in Congress, or in the newspapers. We doubt that there is a single political or commercial journal in the United States, which would "open its columns" to a free and full discussion of the subject on the merits of the case. Political economy can hardly be considered an exact science as yet; but American politicians, even the most eminent, with here and there an exception, seem ignorant of the conclusions which may be regarded as established. Very few of them seem to study political economy-even to learn the facts on which it is based, still less to learn the natural laws on which the material prosperity of the nation depends. Why should they? It is a tiresome work to instruct a great nation, and mankind seldom loves its school-masters in their lifetime, while it requires little effort to swim with the tide. In 1827, the citizens of Boston "assembled to take into consideration the proposed increase of duties;" their committee made a long and very able report adverse to that increase, and very justly say:

"The success or failure of the candidate for the Presidency, may be of great moment to the country, and still greater to those partizans whose political fortunes are depending on that event; but to the nation at large, the evil or the good which may arise out of the choice of the one or the rejection of the other, can only be of temporary and limited importance compared with the wise and just disposition of a question on which our whole foreign and domestic policy turns, and which may, in its consesequences, affect the stability and happiness of the Union for ages to come." †