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[coxtcÍued From First Page-j Vork, And To Olher Northern Ci...

[coxtcÍued From First Page-j Vork, And To Olher Northern Ci... image
Parent Issue
Day
15
Month
September
Year
1841
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

[COXTCÍUED FROM FIRST PAGE-J Vork, and to olher northern cities,tovns3 and villages, in proportion Trom a similar cause. The loss of 90 millionsof dollar9,!y the States oí Maryland, Virginia, and Ken tucky 1838, in consequence of the refusal of the Mississippians to pay for the slaves illegally imported into that State, feil, ultimately, of course, (notwithstanding the recent decisión of the Supreme Court,) upon the northern people, who had trusted them, in various form?, to the full amount of the aupposed proceeds of the slave traffic of 1836 and 7. Northern funds, to vast amounts, have ben engulphed and lost, forever, in the Pontine marshes of Southern üanks, and Southern State Stocks. Northern Banks withinafew months past, have suspended or stopped specie pay ment, because they had purchased,or beenfounded upon South ern State Stocks . It is now well knownthat the lato United States Bank (of Pennsylvania) was ru ined chiefly by its connection with the ölaveholding South. Such are a few specimens of a class of facts, of which we can scarcely present the condensed outline. In such circumstances it is,that we find ourselves under the control of a National Government, governed by the slave power. Nor are mere pecuniary burdens, and embarra8sments the sole, or the most grie vous items in our catalogue of complaints. We only see in them the symbols of sorcr chastisements. We read in them the evidence that we are beginning to taste the bitter fruits of a corrupt tree - thac we are reaping the deserved penalty ot past and preseni trangression. " The same slave powerthat plunders our purses has declared open war upon our pivil, political and religious freedom. And the menace has already proved itself to be no idle threat. Already is our right of petition cloven clown, and the first thrill of alarm that was íe!t, for a time, through the free States, geems subsiding, and seltling down inio the calmof quiet submissiun to a despotism too formidable to be successfully grap pled with! The lawless violence, riots, mobs, arfons, lynchings, and murders, with which the slave power has attempted to fortify itself, both in the free and the slave States instead of having been discountenanced and checked by our National und State governmentp, have been countenanced by the tone of Executive messages, and by the action of the Post Office Department of the Federal Government. fn connection with all this, and more than all this, we see reason to apprehend that the long deferred punishment of our great national sin. 3 now about to We vig. ited upon us, and with a weight propor tioned tu the Divine forbearance that has hjtherto withheld it,and thathasgiven us, as a people, the opportunity of filling up the measure of our national guilt. If a Jefferson could tremble, fifty years ago, under the apprehension that God is just, and that his juslice cap not sleep for ever, phall we be considered fanática! forentertaining similar sentiments, after so fearful an addition to the just grounds of that fear? The intolerable national disgrace of transforming the seat of our National Government into the most extensive, odious, a.nc brutalizing slave marketin the known world - a market by means of which parents are separated from children. and children from parents, husbands from wives and wives trom husbands - a trnffic which has been presented as a nuisatice by a grand jury of the Federal District ilself - a traflic described in the petition of ludge Cranch, and eleven hundred citizens of the District, as being more cruel ia its operations and more demoralizing in its effects than the African slave trade itpelfj which has been prohibiled by our own laws as piracy - stick a disgrace, we can not but regardas altogether insupportable by a free people, fatal to the preservation ofüberty, and involving a degree uf national guilt which must be purged away at all hazards, and without any delay or pompromise. At no formerperiod of our national histojry had it become so fully demonstrated, fts at present, that no nalional administra - tion will ever break the bonds of the $!ave power that has hitherto controlled us unlessitbe an administralion that comes jnto power for this distinct end,and is supported for this object, as being of paramount claims and oi all controlling imporfance. That the late administration was chained to the car of the slave power, we need not waste time to make manifest. Equally plain is it, that the administration that succeeded it on the 4th of March last, was equ.ally suppliant and servile. When it comes to be publicly announced by the President himself (hal no member of his cabinet expects to hold his place on any other condition than that of being known as standing aloof from the support of human freedom, the question is settled beyond the possibility of a mistake, that the administration is proslavery, and holds the support of the slave system paramount to the national honor. Nor will it be claimed that aqy thing more favorable to tlae cause of liberty is to be expected, from the recent elevation of a slayeholder to the Chief magistracy of the republic. There seems to be no evidence that the party defeated at the last Precidential eection will seek to retrieve its fortunes byaccustomed subservicncy to the slave , power. Both the prominent political parties then, must be regarded as pcrmunenlly ! hostile to the great mlerests of human . freedom. Whatever good they may propose to accomplisb, the support of the lun! damental principies of liberty can not be , reckoned as within the range of their en■ deavors. Whatever abuses they may promise to remove, they stand fully pledg ' ed to the support of the greatest abuse, and the greatest civil, political,and moral evil, with vvhich the nation is disgracod and burdened. To say, then, that vo will Bot, ns friends of liberty, nomínate our own candidates for office, is to say, eitlier that we will abandon polilicnl life entirely, or that our political activiles shall be wieldeil in (he support of oppression, and ngainst the foundation principies of our republican iestituiions. Neither oflhese positions are we prepared to ussume, and therefore we cheerfully accept the oiííy alternativo in our power. To defer nominating, in the hope that one or both the present political part íes will nomínate friends of liberty, would be to hope not ouly without, but againsl evjdence. No intelligent body of men will ever attempt to elect a President of the United Slates, without seeking ín their candidute either one or the other of the two folio wngqualificalions, viz; First, that he shall promote the interests oí slavery, or, Second, that he shall seek its constitutional overthrow. Cundidates may bc recommended to different classes of ciïizens as possessing both these opposite qualilies. But none will be seriously supported without chiiming that they possess either one or the other of ihem. If any body of men should nomínate Presídentíal candidatos on the ground,honestly and openly avowed, that they are hoslile to slavery, then that body of men would becotne, by that very act, an antislavery party in politics. Had the friends of liberty now assernbledinthis Convention, declinecl innking their own nominaiions on the ground that some other body of men would probably nomínate friends of liberty, they would have involved themselves in the absurdity and the disgrace of saying that they would not themselves, do the work which ihe exigencies of the republic require, because they were ín hopes that another class of men more consistent and more ardent than themselves, would do the work for thcin. It would have been declining tonct as an antislavery parly, because they preferrud hat somebody else should do so. For neither (he Whig, nor Democratie, nor any other party can avoid being either a proslavery, or an nlislavery party in politics. These reasons satisfy our own minds that a nominaiion should be made by the friends of liberty, for themselves, and we know of no reasons why the nominatiou should be deferred. In respect tothe candidates selected,we have no occasion to say n word by way either of explanation or eulogy. To those in our republic who love liberty and who acquaint themselves with the hUtory of passing events, the bare an nouncement of their narnes will be sufficient for all the purposes we wish to stibserve, ín exercising the inalienable right of every chizen to recommend candidates for office, we only ask that their qualilicalions may be examined, and that a judgment be formed in acordante wiiii the facts of the case. We ak none of our friends to vote for them, unles3, in their own consciences, they think them mentülly aud morally qualified to hold the offices for which they are nominated. But we do ask, in the name of bleeding humanity, of oulraged jnstice, of disgraced republicanism, and of heuven's own truth, for a conscier.tiousand heaity union of all the friends of liberty, in ihe support ot'able, wise, good and 'just men" who will "rule in the fcar of God," execute j-idgment bctween a mun and his neiglibor, "dehver the spoiled out of iho hands of the oppressor,defend the poor and needy," and use civil government for the vcry object for which il was instituted among men. ín the light of tho considerations already presented, ít can scarcely be necessas ry to frame a separate argument (o show the necessity of nominaljng tried friends of liberty, disconnected with either of the servile parties, torepresent us in the Congress of tho United Siates. There it is, that the great batilc is emphatically io be fought, and experience has shown that the work requires men who can not be diver_ tcd trom their purpose,or indaced to compromise their principies, or postpone the claims of equity, from any considerations growing out of their political conneclion with the slave power. It avaüs us little that our members of Congress are chosen exclusively by northern votes, so long as the voters, abolitionists and all, confine their sufirages to candidates selccted for them by parties dependent for their power upon the favor of the slaveholding Souih. Wnen we sce a slavehoider clothed with the controlling power of Speaker of the House of Representatives, by the votes of anti-slavery members of that body, and hear them advocate a future instead of a present aboli'.ion of slavery in the Federal District for the avowed object of securing the election of a proslavery President and ; slayeholding Vice President, the policy ofsupporting such members of Congress by anüsluvery votes becomes too plain a matter for an extended argument. On this policy, tho abolition of slavery in the Federal District will always have to be spoken of as stil l future. Tlie next problem for the (rienda of liberty to dispose of, is that which relates to the policy of carrying this great question not only into our Presidential and Congressional elections, bul likewise inlo our state, ccunty, lownship, city, and other local elcctions; of nominating all the candidates for civil office lor which free cilizens are called upon lo give their votes, and thus separating ourselves cnurely and for ever from both and from all the other political parlies in our country. In every view we have been able to takeof the question, and whclher we examine it as a milter of poliey or of principie, we have been unable to arrive at any other conclusión than that which calis for the cntiie separaiion just described, and for the independent nominalion, by the frienis of liberty, for all the offices in the gift of the people. If il be true, as has already heen affirmed, that both and that all political pariies rif the country not avowed and openly nnti-slavery in their character, are, and forever must be, pro slavery, imtil they openly and Uonesily cHángé their position and character and become anli-slavery parlies in politics, then any manner or degrep of politica! coanection with eilher of toem, while ihey remain wfiat they are at present, must bc wrong in principie and disastrous in practice. II o w can two walk together except that they be agreed ? - How can a man serve twö masters ? - Mow can he be the supporter of liberty, and yet mingle his political activities with the supporters of despotism ? How can he fight the batlles of freedom under the flag of the slave power ? In this country, it is well known tiiat State, and oouniy, and township, and city, and ward, and villagc oilicers are for the must part nominated and elecled by the political parties that are charactcrized by their national politics; that these Slateand local nominations are made chiefly wilh the view of strengthenisig the parties, and thus promoting the great national objects the party has in view. The national politics are thus carried into the local elections. To support the local candidatos of the p'oxtj, therefore, 3 to render effuctual support to the National politica of the riorninnting party. And if these national politics are pro-slavery politics, (us the national politics of every pnrty except an anli-slavery party iuevitahly must be,) thcti the support of these local candidatos is an eflective support the slave power. - For the quesiion of liberty or slaverv is i (in is own changeless nature) a question puruinouñt lo all other quesiions, and, of necessiiy, it will always become, practically, the great test question, in all r)attïès whethcr pro-shivery or anti-slavery in their character. It has been oljected to this view, (hal the policy of noiniualiug State and local officers in reference muinly to national quesiions, is bad policy; that local concerns are thus lost sight of, and local ofiïcers chosen in relation to objeets over which they have no direct control. Be it so, for the sake (f the argument. It remains true that State and local candidates of all parties in this country are thus notninated. To suppori the local candidates of such parties, therefore, by tho óljector's own showing, is to do that which ought not lo be done, for other reasons besides those which wc have urged,and without at all impairing their force. Bul there is auolher answer to this objection. We do not admit that in respect lu the great and fundamental question of slavery, a3 involved in national politics, it is either wrong or unwise to make it a tesi question in all our local and municipal elecuons. It may be unwise and illiberal lo require of a local candidate, (us is corn. monly required,) a virtual pledge to support a pariy founded on a sub-treasury or a National B:mk. It does not follow that! he ought not to be pledged to fundamental! morality in opposilion to dishonesty - to liberty in oppusition to slavery - to the fundamental principies of civil governrnent! and against the elements of anarchy and! despotic power. Uu this principie it is, that oaths of of-f fice - ofallegiancc - offealty to the Conslitution, are required of all those who hold office under our government. Is it wrong,' narrow-miudedjor impolitic, for the friends of liberty to require of their candidates,! for whom ihey are to vote, that they prac- tically recognize the first principies of the] Deelüiation of Independence - all men are created equal? Büt how can they do flíisJ whüe they permit themselvesas votéis, as, candidates, and as hoklers of local uffices,to: be chained to the car of a great national! pro-slavery party in politics, to bar his name, to curry its badge, to wear its livery, aod to labor in ils pay ? Experiencé has recently taught us,what a kiiowledge of mankind should have taught us long ago; that local, township, county, village and city officers and candiriates connected#with the great national pro slavery parties, and yet professing attachment to the principies of liberty, and commanding the confidence and [he votes of the aboliiiouists, are tlie most successfui instruments of seduction; and that through their influence, chieily, the friends of Wberty, to so great an extent, have been led to cast their votes in favor of a slavcholder for Vice President. And thus t has come to pass that we now have a sluvchoiding[ President of the United Stales, elecled by : anti-slaverj' votes. It is in the smaller and local eleclions that the great body of our citizens mingle in the activiiies öf politica I life. There they iind the fields of public usefulness, they are ahle to ocoupy. There it is that they expect to share, ifat áll, in the responsibililies of office. The vüluge and townsliip and ward elections are lo thom the objects of the same interest that the higher elections are to thóse who are in a position to be aftected by them. IIow manifestly futile, then, is the atlempt to enlist the greal mass our citizens in a national contest against the slave power, while at the saine time llicy are encouroged lo forget iheir frec princples, and to act in concert u ith the friends ojP despotism, at the local elections, at the vcry points where their power is most feit, and their activity most eiïeti.ve! Very few men in the nation exuect to fill the office of President, but ten and përhaps ! dreds uf thousnnda understand iheir j petency to lili minor oílices, and kiiow of nogooJ reason vhy they should not serve their l'ellow cilizens in that way, il' i), cap be done without a sacrifico of correct p.qn cijjles. What great national olject wiil ever beattained without liio cu-";era[iot. ! of (hese men? For what other object thnn to snbserve its owri unlmllowed ends, should a party lied hand and foot in all its great naiiunal arránceme nis to the car ui the sluvc power, select its local candidaies from Dinong the reputed advocate of liberjty? Let it once be understpod that the local, villago candidato wil.] not aid ia ihe elevation of the national candidato; that the advocate of liberty, f nomiimied, wül nut be the advocate likewise of the national proslavery party, and the illusion vanishes at once; the nomination is reserved for a moro available candidale.- To faii ofsupporting the Presidentiaí can didate ia to abjure the party, whos.j inearnaUon and personificalion the Presidcntial candidate himself is. Thus demonstrablo ia t, that, in their politica! adivines, at the local elections, there can be no compromiso or truce between the friemls of tibe rty and of slaverv, in which the friends of iiberty will no1 lose all and gain hbthing - and the frierids of slavery lose nothing and gain ají. - Thus it ever has been, in all attompted aljiaticea between vice and virlue, between holiness and sin. Unless the friends of liberty niüke thcir own nomination?, at j all the fowfï and county and vilhige and ward eleclions, they will be divided against ciich other - they will vulo agiinst each i oiher, nnd thus thcir old party prcdili-cj jions and ántípntbies will be perpetuated. They will continué lo be jealoua of each oiher, as they have hitherio been, and . can nover aci in harmony, nor with mutuI al confidence in great national elections. It has been found by experiment thal county, township, vilhige, city and ward. nominaiions and votes are among the most cficciual measures for carrying tho disi cussion of anti-slavery principies and rneasures into lbo minute ramiíications of society - the most retiriny and remóte corners of the community. The qnestion then presents itself in a practical form, in a place whcre its claims must bc, in'some nianner, disposed of, and at a time when it can neither be ovaded nor post poned. ís it asked, What do you want of an anlislavery justice of the peace? oi'an antislavery puih-rmster? of an anti-slavery constable ?ofan anti-slavery coroner? of ananti-slciverynssessor? ofanli-slavery selectïen, or supervisors or aidermen or mavors? We answer, in the first place, what do you want of pro-slavery incumbents of these offices? Anti-slavery or pro-slavery they must be: anti-slavery they cannot well be, steadily and tüan'y good purpose, whüe connected with a national pro-slavery purty. )o you prefer such men to the known anil uncompromising friends of human libeity. Are your inlerests safer in their hands? [COKTINUKD ON SECOXD PAGE.]