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The Great Whig Tract Against The Liberty Party Exposed--its ...

The Great Whig Tract Against The Liberty Party Exposed--its ... image The Great Whig Tract Against The Liberty Party Exposed--its ... image
Parent Issue
Day
15
Month
January
Year
1844
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Thia IVhig trnct is entitled, "THE JUNIÜS TRACT, No. 5- Political Aboüiion by" the Rev. Calvin CoHon. Or, it niight more properly be called, The Last Throvv of the YVhigs, turned advocates of slavury to be eterna!, in all ts vile and most tfisgnsting forms. Alas! alas! has the party boasling of all the dccency, the talents, religión, (ye?, more, ha ving done all that was performed for the canee of Liberty in passing the Jury Trial Law,) nt last thrown off the mask, and mode and dopted the wretchod, wickerl, horrible v'ndiction of slavery by Cnlvin Colton. The Tribune, Utica Whig, and kiudred print?, now teil the world that the Whigs intend to flood the countiy wilh this piece of wretched Atheism. Yes. Jlíhnsin, yglgar profanity and vile hypocriy towards God and man, hoping thereby to crush the last hope of humanity, the Liberty party, in the Uriited States.Is it pos8Íble that the Whigs have, as a party, dared affront the justice of Heaven so much as to allow Calvin Colion to be their moulh-piece and organ ofstich frightful sentiment s! The Whigs have ndopted i f, and are flooding the country thercwith. To all GonD Whigs we appeal - daré yon take thcguilt of apologizinsr, pandering, and plending for the awful crime of siavery, becanse your Prcsidentia] candidate is a slaveholder? ïfyou couki elect a President for twenJy years, of your own creed, by giving ip your relirrion. your jastice, your repubücanism. your mercy and Immanity, would you daré so do il? Yes, your leaders dare. But we know there are morethan 100,Q00 honest Whigs in this State, vvho would infinitely prefer, for life, to remain in a minority, vvith tlicir integriíy, justice, and religión unttirnislied, than to elect Mr. Clay by prostiiuling all, for which a m&n should wishto live, and to support which, slionld be rendy to die. Couid or dare any party sa-y tliey would purchose a mnjority of votes by 6acrificing the purity of their ivives and dnnghters? Look at Mr. Colton's second poinr, -and pee the bold attempt to decsive, by saying thatslavery was imposed on the colonies by the Britisli Government, charging the entir? responsibility on King George the Third. - This is false. A mnjnrily of the fathers and mothers, and grand -fathers and grand-mothers of the present slayes, were brought to this country by, and under the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution eays, insubstancc, "Congress sljall have no power to pass any law to prevent the importation or migration of such persons as any State shall see fit to admit, froin March 4tb, 1789, until the lst of Janimry, 1308, for ninefeen yeará. The Corstitution feared to trust the' humanity of Conjrreps f o lecrislate against the old African elave trnde, unlil ninefecn years ufter ís ndop'ion: so Jhat we might eutnmon, for nineteen yonr?, the pirotes nnd bnccaneers of the Old World, and the villains of the iTew, tn rush to África, and nmidsl the sighs and pcrrams oftheflecino-, bind i.i fetters thö fons nnd daughters of Áfrico, and them to popMla'e the new slave t5tates, nnd Í1I1 up old, as the future impaiJ hborers of the lash, in tlus republican land; anci the Consl tulion was so fixed tliat no pirate, who miht fit out lis ship for the trade, had atjy fear itKïtt it could je abolished for nineteen years. Whal other business of this country has ever beentcred iip fbr ninefp.en years, nnd protecien beyond the power of Congress to alter, excrpt the pirática! mnnstealing1 business fYom 1780 to 1808? This was. a tarifF for protection, HotincideiKal, but absolute, by which Uie slavehohJrr spcurcd a r.ineleon year.s' mo:i opoly of pirr.oy, stealin-r, nnd murdor on the ronst of Africn, ín the Consütnüon of Ihp United Sltates. This same business., by i-ix ncis of Conoces?, passed betweon ir.C3 and 1824, is decjared pirnc, nnd any oneenr-aged in it m'iy be hung ns a pirnto, at tiinyard arm of the ship. Ye, but for the immense nugmentaiion of mimbers slpvéfy rrceivnd durinor the niiietfn yrars it wns fostered by the United Stntes Constitution, it would probalily erp this have fnüen fo the ground. But fnr nineteen yonrs, 40,000 fouís per annum were imporfed frótri África, or not le?s tlian 760,000, in the ninetron y.-r?, nn-1 as tnnny more were destroyed in África, and died on the middle pn?sage.Now, who is tlie fiitlier of thn pysiérh, Genrrrc the Third, or the framers oftheUniled Stntes Constitution? In t!ie lüli pnore of Oolton's pnmphlet, in the S4!h point wiiich he mnkep, he pnys.: Bnt the wrong shouhl he righted, and i-ighled iiow." The.n he says: "Tíint it shnnid be riirhted, we ngreo, but ihat rightingh now; will íVsí'" bo rïg-lit, isa questipn; and Hint mny depend on many otlier quesfions. First, it moy dpppnd on who did the wroüg. If he can be found, it is doubt Jèss mcumbcnt on l.im to set nbout it instonlly." So we sny, and we have found ihe preat criminal in the poople of the United Stater, and the erenl crime is expressed in llie most solemn form, in the Cwnsüttition of the Uni'ed Sfntps, which f.irbid i!s own Congres, for nine'een years, from shutfin down the rare, throiigh whicK.'thé blood of África wns flpwingr to moisten these States for nïnetooi) nor years. It s'eem.s the afiolitiohists, or the L.iber!y party, iiavin found Ihe aimínal, sldvery, in onr o-.vn laws and Constitution, hould have gone to work at the box. ás they hnve dore, to undo that horrid crime and villany which the same ballot-box, in years long past, had most shameAiIlr estabiehód, perpetUBted,: and defended, I- - - ■■'" ■■■■ !■!! _J Tliis Mr. Colton would never havo drawn a word of reply from me, lo his weak argumems, garbled statement., in whicii he studies to suppreesall the truth hecan, and when lie empioysany of that material, he endcavors to use the least possible quantily; and thnt which is used. is put forth as a prop, to suatain some lamentable faisehood. In the 3d page he endeavors to make out that we of the north, or in the free States, have no more to do with slavery in the South, than we would have were it in Great Britain or France; and says we do not hold ourselves responsible for any of the laws or institutions of those countries. He says: ':We never promise that we vvill not meddle with the domestic regulations of foreign powers, when we make treaties with them." He asserts that these States are independent sovereignties, and that the Constitution is a mere treaty between these States and these States hold the same relation to each other as different nations. Horrible! Under the power conferred and delegatedto the Constitution, in a certain sense, we are one people witfr a Legislature. In the first place, Congress has assumcd lo ohlige and accomodate the slave-holders. (although the Constitution had tied up its hands, ibr nineteen years,) at the end of the first four years after the Constitution went into opcration, to viólate that Consfitution on the 12th day of February , 1793, by passing a law, extending to every foot of the Republic, callingon and commanding all the judges, justices, mayors, constables, marshals and sherLffs of the land to become kidnappers and catchpoles in the free States, to help the slaveholder race down, re-kidnap, catch, and re-deliver up the American fngitive slavc. who is fleeing from the cruel pirate who has bruised and worked him as a beast, uncompensated for long years of unpitiec sorrow. We cannot forbear asking Mr. Colton, cannot Congress, who made this law in 1793, it in 1843? There cannot be two opinjons on this subject, among learned or unlearned, Christians or .Tews, slave-holders or Liberty men. If Congress may repeal this law, the act. of the 12th of February, 1793, which it has passed. what would be the position of the slave? Precisely the same as though Canada was to slide down and be bounded on the South by Mason and Dixon's line - precisely the same asthough Oanada was the Northern boundary line of the slave States. The inoment the slaves passed into Pennsylvania. Ohio, Indiana, Uh'nois, or ÏQwa, from a slave State, ihey would be free, by the laws of slavery, and the law ofnations. They could not be pursued or arrested. - Thcy would be free. How long would slavery stand in the border States of Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, or Missouri? Not five ye'ars, if we take away the power of reclamation. This act of Congress in abridging the natural right of the slave to seek his lïberty, is the act of the free States in common witli tbe slave. But for this law, sjavëry wonld have been overthrown. But for tbe North agreeing to stand as a bull-dog sentry on the line between freedom andslavery, covenanting to re-kidnap thé fieeing, innocent man and woinan, and restore him or her in chains to lus oppressor, slavery wouid have fel] to Le ground, by the power of 'Jlight alone. Th is seems to me to be a very considerable power of the ballot-box, which was exercised fifiy ycars ago last winter, by Representatives elecied by the North as well as South. We can elect Representatives who will abolish the act of the 12th of February, 1793, and this is political abolition, and the cxercise of this poxver is demanded by the love of God and man, and for the redemption of our own cbáracters from the lowest point of knavish debavsement. 2. Does anybody dispute the power of Congress to abolish slavery in the D'atrict of Columbia, and thcreby repeal theCruinea coast slave-trade carnea on through the Potoinac and Chesapeake bay? Congress enacted slavery inlo existence, and can therefore repeal it - Congress bound, therefore can unbind. The Constitution, speáking of the District of Columbia. says: ''-Congress shall have power to Jegislate in all cases whafsoever for said District.'5 3. Does any one doubt the power of Congressto pull down the three Mástiles erected and sustained at an expense of over -$100,000 out of the National Trcasury, in the three cities of Washington, Georgetown, -and Alexandria, in the District of Columbin. as slavc-dungeons, buill for the accommodation of the American Guinea trade, as "so many barracoons of the human-flesh mongers? 4. Does any one doubt the power of Congress to abolish the ihternal 1 tradc between thé States, by which ' ginia, Maryland, and Kentucky would ' cease to be slave-BREEDERS for 1 tion? I Slave-breeding is a greater business. (and the fruits, of its sa'e exceed any olher stapFe comniodity of those States, to supply the demand of the dreadful sügar and cotton plantations of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, without which cooimerce these three last States would become depopulated for want of laborers, and the three former would emancípate from necessity, slavery being too unprofitableto existin Virginia, Maryland, and j Kentucky, if exportation of slaves abroad was forbiiddèn. The Constitution snys: "Congress shall have power to regúlate foreign commerce between the States and Indian tribes." This power is abundant to cut up the internnl slavc-trade and if Congress exert it, t would overthrow slavery ! within seven years from the time of its abolition and enforcement. Yet, with these powers in the Constitution, without naming others equally Constitutional and powerful, the whole of Mr. Coltoirs argument proceeds on theissurnption, that if the Liberty party, or ■ olitical abolilion. were to be successful in j jetting the rhájórity of the pjeópïe of this country to belicve and act vith it, still his argument is so simple, yes. so foolish. as tomainlain that an tibolition Liberty ! ty controlling Congress would haveno more power to touch the act of Congress ofFebruary lSthj 1793, orslavery in the District of Columbia. or the internal sïave-trade between the States, than it ! would to abolish slavery in France, or the Corn Laws of England, or the ' dom of Russia. Infinile-absurdity! Has! the political mission óf the the groat' Whig party been reduced to this - to bc-' come un apólógist for eteraal slavery, irrepealable bv law) Tliis is the length and breadth of Mr. Colton'sargument. that ifabplitionists had'the entiro power of the countiy, it would be powerless. and could do nothing. If Í thought the abolitionists would ppssess no political and Constitutional power over this question, after obtaining a majority. I confess it would truJy "be a senselesscnterprise. According to slave-holders. their expenents and apologists. every right they have acquired over theslavesby thelaws: cönstitutions and compacts. are ballot-bo. powers. in their inception. and have all been vofed for in the appoiniinent or j tion of those individuals who created. made, or passed these laws, cönstitutionsor coinpacts. But slafery, though the highest of crimes, is a thing so much more sacred than any other human right, that whon once votccl iiïtp exisíence by ballot box power, or if ballot-box entrenchments are íhroivh rxrounc! if. the ballot-box bas spent its power, uriless it be to fortify tbe infernal institution, but has no power to overlhroT,-. curb. or resíraiñ i; when the ibailot-box has once conferred any power oníhis pirática! insíitution, it must rernain inviolable, irrepealable, to-dny, to-morrov and forever!! So say slave-holders, and Mr. Collón and tb.e Whigs. in fho spirit of thëjr argumënts', in favor ofwhatwe rnight süpposé iruly -peculiar institutions. ívhich, when once made. defy their creatór, nnd become éfêrnal. Yes. they are peculiar, if having once got into cxisíoncc. tliere is no way lo get ihern out. - But Mr. Colton has bren so kind as to inform us how tö get them out. It is by jmoral' suasion. Thesêinsfitutións wh'ïch vill not 3'ield io the ovnnipotencc of the ballot-box." riïay still be kindly flatlereci out of existence! Yes, thcy ma y bc pursuaded to die, hut cannot bc killed. - The mstitütion being eo vciy humane and genorous, it is pre&uïóett, to help justice and humanity, it wil i íigrce tó die. froin puro patrio! ;?m. and from an abhorrence of its own ex&tence. I3ut the dif-' ficulíy átiJl is, if Mr. Colton is right. that .slnveiy cannot die, except through the ballot-box power; for if you sliöüld persuade ench plnvcholder to give liberty to bis slaves. in the District of Columbïn, j unless slaveiy is forbidden by Jnw, whnt j binders another viilain from setting up the business again. under the nose ofCöngress? Büi whnt is the use in jires-i s'ing t'iis argument further. or ofsendingi au absuraiiy ín I:ot piirsuit aftcr an im-; possïty'? But wë Have íeá'rriHfl frorh Mr. Colton. one cürioufs jiiccc ofihförrriation, ihr.t ün(il we took abolition jnto politics, the slaveholders, and the -Vhole country, as a sort j of moral entorprise; were all in favor of our jirojccl oí' emancipatiott. It must have been this, f'or I have heard of ño oiher ín ten yoars. There ftétrei was a greater falschood ; uttered. The Liborty )arly was formed ! in April, 1840; but al! the great mobs, i church burning. Pcnnsylvania Hall 1 flagration, the murder of Lovejoy, and and tromendous mobs ai Utica. GificinnG[i, Nêw York, Boston, and .Philadelphia. jpere in 1835, and before we had over thought of voting, and forming a distinct i political party. In fact, all these out-! areaks were bofore 1839. For three or ibur years aftcr these terrible wrongs. - . - - , I. _ were inflicted on us as abolitionists, in our persons, character. and estates, and while. in some places it was dangerous for abolitionists to bc in the streets, during this club and rotlon-egg age. vet we werestill voting for slavery. and acting with theso miserable pro-sia very parties, ra the ballot-box, at the same time, to our shamo. No, since we liave formed a Liberty pari y to exercise all the constituí íonal powers we possess, to overthrow slavery, through logislation; since we have commenced voting, pray ing, talking, and acting for the slave, as a Liberty party, consistently. and no longer pray and talk for the slave. and vote with and for the master, and against the. slave - wc have been treated with infinitely moré respect than before. I think we deservcd to be mobbed, when we were so absurd as to' pray and talk for the slave, and vote a-' gainst him. Talk and pray in the church for the slave and defend our lives against the mob, as well as we could, and then escaped from the church to the balloti box, whero we voted the same ticket as the inob did, who had been abusing us, for the mercy of our principies, which. to our disgrace, we cruciiied and put to open shame, by voting a pró-slavery ticket. - j Yes, wc cannot deny that until 1840,and ; not until indigniiy had been heaped upon us by slave-holdcrs and their apologists, d'd we cease to vote in those i same parties, and for those v'ery tyrants who had set these mobs upon yes, wc were, from 1834 ter ÍS40, so stupid as to j pray God tolot the oppresscd-'go free, and (Hen ífo and vote the fetters on the slavc, j by sustaining the Whig or Democratie parlies, wlio were bowing down to the i j slayeholding portion of each of those pai: ties. : No, whüe we acted with these parües [ and voted with them, and simply talked; ; prayed: and printcd for the slave's deliverance, and voted for his subjugatton. we . were treated infmitèly wor.se by the Vhig nndDemocratic mobs, than -we have been since we occupied the consistent and honest positio'n of voting for the slave, through the Liberty party. Look at the absurdity of this reverend and crafty Whig. We are told over, and over again,' from page to page of bis argumenf, that our mission of benevolence might be ivery proper, if we did not propose to overthrow the general welfare; and trample on contracts, compacís, and moral obligations. by casting our votês wheré we have not the leasf cliance of success, and if we were successful in géïSng a majority, we are, in all respects, perfect-" ly powerlesf?, as we have nof a crumb of I constitutional power by which to touch slavery, or even the hem of ifs garmc nf; in Siafe ornation, it is so sacredly guard-' ed against every approach of humatiit}-;' ! bnt stijl, by voting for these abolition obi jects we defeat ourselves and thè Whig?, and tiras we may "throw the Government of the Sfatès and nation into hands that u ill ruin us ;tll. as they have heretofore tried to do with no smkH success" - What are we to gaih by acting with Whigs, nfter the gentleman hasshown us that Whigs cannot touch slavery even with a pair of tongs, for want ofconsíiíutional power: and that all the Whigs can do. with that greüt .slnve-holdcr as! dent, (who swallows daily the unpaid la: bor of fifty-fwo human beings) would be, ! to prop, enlarge, fortify, and strengthen slavery? Let him not talk of the right óf pëtition. Wben did Clay, or Calhoun, or Van leuren ever come out in its'iavor? - And if the Whrg parííy hád power, and r;]ji)v,or] us to discuss everv proposition for J curtailing and lopping off a bmnph or a : Iirig oï slavery. still this grent coïisiitutional Wliig inform.s us (nnd the Whigs have adopled his legal advicc.' by eïfetilaling liis tract as their opinión) that however full of emancipation, justice,' and mërcyj a Whig Congress mïght be, it could conti-ive no way or meaiis to déliver or aid a single slave, without tearifig the United States Constitution all to shreds and shivers. involving the country in flsmes nr.d blood, from Moiitpólicr to Tallfshassee, from the Pedee to the' Sabine. from Montauk to the mountaihs of Rock, where thcre would be nothiftg to extinguish the flames of our dwellings, bui by the blood of our citizens: and this universiil inassacre would end in the r.xtiuclion óf black and white, bond and free. and convert this end of the Continent into one vast sepulchre where no living man would survive to record the dismal catagtrophe which hd blotted a great étnpire fró'm the map of the world, in defending the canstitutionahty of slavery! Alas! alas! ala&! did ever nation liVë on the top of such a constitutional volcanobefore? Yes, a volcanó that nevor casts up its lurid flames and pummice stones, as long as you feed it with constitutional gags and the twenty slave-elected members of Congressj also by throwing dawn into its voracious crater-throat seven new slave Statos and Florida,

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Signal of Liberty
Old News