Address Of The Central Corresponding Committee, To The Frien...

Friends: - The time has arrived when it is our duty to addrese you: Ere long the ballot box wijl test the 6trength of pdlhical principie and prodniin the relative power of conflicting" partjes; jou wil! have to decide between three- the whig, the democratie and the Iiberty party. The first two conflict with each other, nd their principies are repugnant, the third, is inconsistent with neither; its principies may be adopted and yet those of either of (he other partíes be retained. To men of plain comraon eense thé simple question now1 presdrited", is wliich principie do you ihink the grèatest? To settle this you must ascertain, if you can, their nature. We say, if you can, because the task is not always easy; tho difference, between the leading political parties of thè United States, is often so minute, that the distant spectator fails to distinguish any: heneé" fdieigners confdtind the political variances of the country. The candid enquirer, undisturbed by passion or party heat, must confess that oür strife is at times more founded in fancy than real difference, the great principies of repubücanism are ndmitted by both- the leading maximsof goverrlmertt are mutually acquiesced ín, and mere maffers of detail are those, upön whitíh slrife is raised - olten wafnoniy. At present in our state the hostile principies between whigS and democrats appear Iimited to two- whether the present tariflf shall continu3 - and wheiher the states sholl particípate in the surplus fund of public lands. The ghost of the defunct United States Bank seems faintly conjured up. bu't those, who evoke this sliatfe, fear to present more than a dim outlino, óf n body now appearing to occüpy a grave, which by conimon consent, should be undisturbed. Other questioná seems to be squeezed out into something liké a pngnacious aspect, but after a Hule exatnination are found to contain just what every one agrees to, and no more. On ourparts we again go to the polls to maintain the most precioüs rights of man, and the great principies of government - not mere details like those of other parties, but those primary principies, which lie at the very base of society. We go ta resist nggressions on man - invnsions on ourselves and inroads on our natural and constitutional rights - to remove from oiif revered ennstitution, that fatal element which like the dry rot mid the timbers of an oíd noble war ship, germinales disease in our midst and unceasingly extendsaCoriSuming debility within, while without all Iooks stately to the eye. So long as the peaceful calm of án unclouded poüticnl horizon engirdles us and so continúes, until that critici! rritfm'ent, when all should be firm and socure, mid the stormy surges of hostïle elèments raging around, and then a huge rent suddenly bursts before external pressure - remediless- fatal and univèrsally overwhelming. ëiSch is our cause, and we seek not to advocate t with violence nor btit pèaceably and under the sacrei! Sanctions of law, and the constitution.- ThoSc döctrinees which were supposed to pertain to abolitionists-those mcasures oflence - iócèndiarism - diñante oflaw - justifying the means by the end-'-amalgamatlcfn &c. never were ours. They were (he creatiors of aspersing enemies, and by none were the"y more boldly - more irivariably and more tfrtiversally condemncd than by ourselves. Time, the great test of truth. has not only done us justice in thís respect, but has placed the saddle on th right horse. For deeds of violence. for the incendiary, for the law breaker, for the time serví ng moralist, for the practiöal, the atiiuií, the Ú!í)h:3i!ág amalgamationist,' every oht nott looks to thcsouth tffMason's and Dixon's line, or alofig its borders and fimls all these odious characteristicsunited in our adversarles. Even the city of peace - its very name redolent of bfotheriy lové-'-has attained disgraceful notoriety in the annals of the day, by the inglorious feats of our enemies in these stigmatized dèede. Weask in candar, can eithör polltical party assert the imporiartéè' of his principies in comparison with ourè, tfhile Washington contended against taxation without representation - while a naiion fought to maintain freedom'i rights and rolled back oppreêslon's hlífetí 6oltli6ry vtho would have insulte-J ioeHng ofoUtraged sensü by aeeking tl pört; to iix the eSdÖt number Jf Sents a yard öf impoMed cloth íoülíl pay, cK trV the iitlé W public laridsf lítid yet these pfinSifileè of revöiutionary birth craalèd by" Washingtol nnd raised to maturity by a nation, are no lfcss the" subject of con test at this present hour thari they were ín '76; the only diflerence between the two crisises is - that ín '66 Americana were the süflerers - now they arè the perpetrators, and that what England but essayed to do, in a degree compartively trifling, we havo actually accömplishcd totiie gioulest possible extern, and in the utmost possible intensiiy. Now, iftho real disinterested love of tho principies of '76 dwelt in our hearts, we would at tbis ilny be alive to their oppcal, as they pleud for helpless outcasts in our rtiidst, the sad viciims of our oppression - the hnpless sacrifices to brute power and to the unholy lust of gnin. That effort wus needed lor oihers and not for ourselves wculd but ndd to our virtucs. Some - alns, ido mnny! - thereare, thiit know not the extent of these evüa at the preseiit day; but the number is fast diminishing; evcry leading and candid man deplores their existence. Wc I tb rust our handá into the pockets of one class of i freeborn citizens. and drag thence their full quota; to pay our Governors, judges. legislators, public nnd private de bts, and yet we deny to those taxed ' citizens the right to vote. England proposed to j tax us unrepresented, jir nut'wnal purposes - we liave turned her intent into net, and added to ite' perpetration by ncudng local with national taxation. coerced fröm disfranöhised ffeemen. We hold Irt böftdage human beinga at our national seat of government, and by virtue of n i eral law alone the cession of the District of lumbia aboüslied slavery: a federal law recreated ' it - by such a law we maintaln It also in Florida, our own territory puröhascd by oürown money, and we add tó tliis outrage on human nature, laws unparalleled in tlio world. Other nations, ! barbarou3 or in remote times, have justified 1 ry as the right of donquesf j and the lot of defent - their slaves were the victims of power, but still they existed as men; their restoration to freedom fóárid them ranUlrig as equola alotlg side their 1 mer masters. Uut Republican America of the nineteenth century, not content to abuse the i precaiious chance of power, impiously dares to sink Gods highest creation lower than the beast, i and ló t'hatleliïe írrtmortaüty. History nowhere records such a code as the American slave laws j exhibit, and too raany of them blot our federal statute book - nay even the United States, in her national capaciíyj has boüght and sold slaves in Florida-="ëhe commenccd and prosecuted the Florida war td uphold slavery and when peace was atiairlable on al! questionsi save that of slavery, the feil slavery spirit dashed from the nation the blessing of peace and sacrificed the Iive6, the treasure, the energies and the honor of the natiöff to the genius of oppressiöhj Caüsir.g our arihy undef our nation's banner to vie with bloodhound8 ip the inglorious chase after man, because his skin was black. The spirit of domirieering oppression ever progressive has thrown its shackles around even the white man. Let us come into the halls ofCongress in our sovereign capacity, armed with what the Conátitíition trebly guards in the most clear language, and let us exercise the riiost precious of ficedom's rights - liberty of petition, and in amoment we- the boasted "We the people" are the helpless slaves, to the saine spirit of oppre's sioDj iHat lords it woy over three millions of native Americans. But oppre8sion's giant stride stops not here; - sbe tells us, in ihe very halls of Congress, that "liberty of thoaght and speech" shall cause us to hang like dogs, ifwego to thesouth, spiteofall the Iaws ei the United States: shè derides the paper saleguard of the constitution, and casts in to jáíí the crimeless citizeri oí arióther State, visiting her dominion; she dares to reslrictNew York commerce, and Maine iniercourse; she boldly unites southern states in Ilegal confederacy against northerrí c'onstitutional righk; she violates our paid for Post Office privileges; she burns our buildings - scatters our pressee - murdersour Lovcjoys - indicts our citizens( ond secks to embroil üs in foreign wars; she Cornmands ouf state justices to become negro hunters for southern masters; she seizes our presideniial, our domestic and forcign ministerial dfficëS; éie enjoys twenty-five congressional members, merely in right of her property; she commands the norih to contribute nine tenths of the revenue; to raise soldiers and sailors; to do all the fighting and hard work, while she does the talking and the pickirig up thCgood things; she causes slaveproducts to find markeiB the vroïM through - wliile those of her antagonist, freedom, perish, unless inherent strength preserves them. All this and more does this monster - oppression- and y et a paral yzed nation looks on in ttupid gnze, or in meek submission bertvs her pliant neck to the yokc. Freemèrf, these are sober truths; these evils, startling as their enumera tion may be, are sad realilies, áíid but a part of those, which pertain to the" subject. It is to alíeviate them, we seek - to mitígate evils, no lees repugnant to humanity than destructiva to our repubiic, that we ondeavor; it is tö assert thë rightá of freedom that we aim. and it is to place our country upon that proiicl eievatioM, Whenco shs möy be scen cf the j world- the beacon to universal imeríythe j ble monutncUt üf freodom's most fearless triumph j - untarnished by a stain, Unweakencd bya flaw, and ufireproached by an enemy-that we hope, j and vvlth the blessing of him, who n '82 crowned with triumph these principies, that we wijl. Can whig or democratie democratie principies compare wilh thefle? No, will every candid man exclaim! tíut, even if thoy did compare, recollect- and we will impreaö the fact- that you, Mr. Whig, or you, Mr. Democröt, are not called upon to abandóü your old predilections; tlo such thing; you Kan support our paramount principies, and eiill be Whig or Dcttiocrat to the core of yoür hfe'artSÖl'sire. But, say llle#e big prjtttlcal folkü. "JTÖÜr libcrly men can do notlilïig; th state eléctions cannot influence slavery; iFyoü électfcd öVCry eandiáttís at the ensuing electiotüs, Still not onë ittcnmbttri1 could grnpple with slavéry." tnd'ccd! arld pïtiy how is it, then, that you gentlemen put forüi the issue bctween yourselves- the tariíTqueátion- the surplus fund- the currency, or other nation al questions? How do you expect to reach these, by the elcction of state officerg? Have not wcas good a chance to influence our national questions by state elections, as you have yours? - Give a plnin answcr, yes or no, and íor once do it honc8tly and boldly, and whöri it is given, just answer one more questiun. Do we want to blot from our stato statutc book the qualiñcntion oí' color as essential for eluctlVe franchise? is not this'one of our lettding principies - a direct issue of the coming contest? We would also wish you to say - are you or are you not in favor of th6 change whereby a particular act of God's power - bliall no longer be a pre-requisitc for voting in Michigan? if you are not in favor of the chango, but tlmt a white man only shall vote, and shall tax the disfranchised black, man, then the people understand yuur views, and will voteaccordingly - but if you are in favor of the change. why have you nevar ruade t, during the ma.iy years of your supremncy? Do you say you are late converts, when then do you dato your politica! regeneración and has the political aation of the liberly party worked the conversión? Now we ask that these questtonB may be an swered, plainly and boldly, and we wish that either the whigsor democrats would shew the single question of iheirs equally important with thia one, and of equal practical fensibility. "No tazation without representado n," of revolutionary birih is our motto, and it is to be eetlled either favorably or adversely by the very representatives and senators we shall elect within two months. Friends, we condude as we began- the power of the anti-slavery, the whig, and the democratie feeling will be counted by the votes of November. Are you averse to shvety? Do you feel it to bo a curse - a blot - a vicious 6ystem of labor - an inhuman institution? Do you respect lib erty of speech, and do the emotions of your hearts surge against the proud expeliera of a venerable Adanis - the censurers of a Giddings - the domineering tnunters of "northern doughfacedness?" Do you regard your intcrests sacrificed to those of tho South - your free labor dlsgraced by that of the slave eystem- your purse drained to defray national expenses? - or f interest sways you not feel you then for the poor slave - the hnpless victim of chance - hie place of nalivity his only crime - his color libcrty'e death warrant - bom the powerless martyr tö oppression- bis only hope is death or - you? Do you feel the3e to be claims? then let the ballot box be your answer- let our last year's 1253 votes, swell into thnt number that will procliiira the irrepressible, the onwaad course of lifcerty. fiut do you feel them not - then let the passing, petty squabbles of mere politiciana, clamoring for mattere of detail, once more fill up an election hour. and give to another year of reflection, nought upon whicli memory may rest with just pride - no act, Worthy ihe freeman in exercising his rloblest privilege - the franchise - and uo deed ennobling a country or the sacred cause of liberty.