Press enter after choosing selection

Established Customs

Established Customs image
Parent Issue
Day
23
Month
May
Year
1842
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

He was right, whoev-er he was, who fírst said that Cusiotn is a second nature. It makes an immense diflerence in the feelings of mankind. It renders disagreeable things pleasant, makes wrong things appear right, and absurd things rational. It has this effect, not only on individuals, but also on large masses of men. In some nation, it íb cuitomary for the raogt ferociout cut Ilirout to assume and exercisc absolute power; in nother, we shall find many millions peaceably esiding under thegovernment of a little child. n anoiher, as in England at the present time, íemale, a ine:e girl, exercises sway over a large ortion of the human race-over dominions on which the sun never sets, and her subjects are eadv to die for the privilege of bcing governd by a feinale. called a Queen, perhaps vastly nferior in intellect, knowledge. and energy, to great numbers of her f'emnle subjects. It is the cu om of the conntry to have n Queen. It has een handed down from remote generations, and s therefore revered. Indeed, there is searcely any imit to the power of cusloin. History tel Is us of a Roman Emperor who made his horse Consul. Such nn act was indeed an innovation upon estabished usages: but il it had been usunl from time imniemorial on a certain day in the year to elect a horse to a paniculnr office, it would have appeared quite rational in the eyes of not a few of he unihinking populace. They practiced oiher absurdities greater thnn this. Thinking men are nware that cu8tom is a great help in governing i people. h has the "orce of law, and in many oases, customs become laws. Wh :nce Dr. Paley recommends to legislators and statesmen, to alter the manner of governing a nationas little as pos8ible. If, then, customs lonc established, exert such an abiding influence on comniunities, it behooves us to consider what customs, we, as a people, are himding down to posterity for their undisputed gulüance. We shall have space to-day for nientioning only one or two. One custom we have, that is fast becoming nationalized, is that of clcclvig sluvelwlding Prciients. For forty-four out of fifty-six years, it has been the custom to elect this class of men to the highest office in the nation. We have no custom to put in children. or females, to rule the nation. as in England. But our custom is to select children stcalws, and women -jl 'o ggers for that exalied siiuation. It euiis our-national disposititn. Public seniiment sanctions it.Thiscustom has not, indeed, been entirely uninterrupted. but the exceptions have uniformly beci. followed by a return to the regular rule. Jefferson succeeoed Adams, Jackson succeeded J. Q. Adama, and Tyler followed after Van Buren. The nation has constantly elevaied a slaveholder just as soon as a non-slavcholdcr was disikargcd from office, save in the case ot Harrison. and he wasscarcely an exception, as he did not difier in feeling at all from his slaveholding relativeB in Virginia. This f'act shows the pro-slavery bent of of the nation. Again, this pro-slavery national feeling is displayed in granting four years to each Northern President, and cight to eachof'theslave-breeders. There is no exception to this. Who now expects that a non-slaveholder can be President more than one term! We said the custom of eleciing children-ttealers for Presidents. was not yet entirely uninterrupted. But it bids fair soon to become thoroughly established and uniform. Three prominent candidates are now presenting themselve3 for the suffrages of the nation. Clay, Calhoun and Tyler. all acknowledged slarcbrerMers - all rank an'l zealous advocates for the GoJ-cursed system of merchandising human beings - aJl sreking the votes of Northern frecmen. Those votes they will have, to a large extent. The Northern Press stands ready to drum out the rank and file for (hese. candidates. as though the millions in the Free States could not present a single individual ofsufficient worth or intellect to merit their support. It is true, we have among us a press claiming to advocate the rights of the North. We have a party that calis itself a Northern party. But this party and press, in common with the other, are bent on having a elave breedcr and slave merchant in the Presidential chair, and it assists in thus perpetuating and firmly establishing the custom of selectiug our highest Executive officers from a band of manstealers. What a Northern party must that be! But it is to be remembered that Northern voters support this odious custom. The reinedy is with them. The North is a large majority of ihe nation, and her freemen tan elect wliomsoever they will. Should things progress as at present, after one or two more elections, noi thern men must no longer aspire to' the Presidency. but the great loaf will be gambled for by the Slave Kings of the South', and emiissuitable to heir merit, will be dispensed to the waiting menials of the North. We .re rejoiced to find that his conviction is fasteningon the mindsof many who have not been aboliiionists. The disnppointment ín regard to President Tyler has led many to declare they will never vote f jT a slaveholder again. Upon inquiring ofawhig friend how he wns led to vote for Tyler, "Why," said he, "I did know that he was a slaveholder. I enquired of every body aliouthim, but all I could lenrn w;is that he was a very smart man, and a most gloiiuus Wtig!" Butthedays ofthie ignorance are ("ast passing away. The freemen of this nation are inquiring into the validity of the pretensions of haughiy and domineering slaveholders. Recent events begin to make manifest to all, that the fabric of slavery, though mighty in bodily size, is yet weak, feeble, and debilitated. It is true, the old gianiess yet stalks through the land with her bloody whip. and ecowling brow, but it is with a foreboding heart, a staggnring step, a braken spirit, and a (ailing arm. Her overthrow, which has long been written in the Archives of Heaven, will soon be accomplished, amid the acclamations ifa gazing world, and the shoutsof rejoicing millions. When ehe falls, her fall will be great, aud being mortal in hor nature, to her there will be no resurrection, but her 6leep will be eternal.EFAt an unti-slavery meeting in Cazenovia, N. Y. Gerrit Smiih addressed a very large audience in support of the propositi on, that "American Chnsiianity is not the Christianity of the Bible." Eider Bowen, a PresiJing Eider in the M. E. Church, took exceptions to what Mr. Smith said in reference to the action of that church on slavery. The Madison County Abolitionist says lie maintained: "lst. The Methodist Church has undergone no change during a half a century past. in regard to slavery. Th.it tlieir principies now aro the same that they were years ago. 2. That we were not, as Ministers, at liberty to attack those sina directly which are sustained by the political njtitu'iorn of our WWjtry. ThMhc gospel does not require such an aciiou on he part of Minieters." Both ol these positions are unqucstionnbly alse. but they are as sound nrgt mente as our pro Uivery clergy can avail themselves of to aesai; he subject ol human freedom. According to the ogic of the Eider, all that isnecessary to sanctify niquity, is to have it endorsed aud sustained by jolitical insiitutions. This throws it beyond the )ieriigatives of the gospel of Christ."

Article

Subjects
Signal of Liberty
Old News