PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 233 



and the East, in view of silk, as we are in that of wheat, corn and 

 potatoes ; and would be one of the heaviest blows we can strike 

 against tyranny and for liberty — save and except, always, the 

 destruction of the kingdom of Dahomy, in the lap of Liberty in 

 tLese United States. 



No, sir, there have been millions enough sacrificed at the shrine 

 of that infamous institution; aye, millions enough to conduct a 

 war with 500,000 soldiers, with democratic economy, for ten 

 years, have been offered up upon the altar of slavery through the 

 influence and agency of men claiming to be democrats, and labor- 

 ing for the independence, prosperity and happiness of the people 

 of their country. Sir, I speak that which I do know. It so hap- 

 pened, in the providence of God, that in the year of 1842, when 

 the labor of this country was depressed beyond all precedent, and 

 would inevitably have resulted in provision riots had not Con- 

 gress given relief; that I was in the sanctuary of the nation, con- 

 secrated to God, in the name of liberty and fraternity, when the 

 discussion of "the black tariff of '42," as it was appropriately 

 christened (because it was the boon of slavery,) was in progress, 

 and listened to most of the speeches, pro and con, and with more 

 than ordinary interest to that of Silas Wright, Senator from my 

 own New York, on the side of free trade, and saw him turn around 

 and vote for the very principle he had opposed in argument. By 

 that vote, and the influence he held at that time, the tariff was 

 secured. We all know with what vigor and elasticity every kind 

 of business sprung into life, and what a career of prosperity we 

 entered upon; but, alas! alas! only to be destroyed by the same 

 hands within four years. Until this time I had conceded honesty, 

 integrity and manliness to the great majority of the members of 

 the two Houses of Congress, but more especially to those of the 

 Senate. Then and there I discovered it to be a den of political 

 gamblers, mountebanks and costermongers, with a few noble ex- 

 ceptions — and oh, how few ! 



Prior to that I was very much in the condition of the good old 

 mother of Israel in good old Puritan New England. When her 

 horse was running at full speed down a dangerous declivity, she 

 said she " trusted in Providence until the breeching broke, then 

 she gave up all hope." Her only mistake w^as, that she trusted 

 in the breeching until it failed, then she trusted in Providence, 

 and was saved. I trusted in the wisdom and integrity of the 

 members of Congress until I discovered that they were a club 



