Liberty Association

At the meeling two weeks sincc, the rosolu'ion declarmg ihat the principies of the Liberty party ei'title t to Bupport jn preference to either of the other parties, was spoken to in the nffirmetive by Mes6re. Demsoti, Jewelt and Chandler. No one appeired on the negalive. At the meeting last Monday evening, Dr. Dentón took the 6tand on the pnrt of thenegative, and was replied to by Messrs. Denison and Beckly,the discuseion being pro tracted to a late hour. We cannot give a ieport of the Doctor's remafks, but will state his positions in such n manner as will give nn idea of the nature of the argument he advanced. He took the most eligib'e srround that could be taken on that side of the qucation, and spoke to it with his usual ability. His grand objection to the Liberty party was, that it was organizod to accompli sh sotnething which it had not, and nover could have power to accomplish. The great rallyin? erv of Abolitionists was, that there were threemillions of slaves in our land, groaning and suflèring in bondagp, and for their liberation, the Liberty party was organised and put in operation. The Liberty papers and speakers hold forth this as their prominent object They virtually assume that if they iad the control of the administration, slavery vould be immediately abolished. Now. he ook issue with them, and denied that, undcr ny circumstancep, the Liberty party could ver f ree a tingle slave. To test this, he roposed to look at the thing practicnlly. - uppose Mr. Birnbt to be already elected lo ie Presidenry ; Buppose the Liberty party to ompose three fourths of both Houses of Conress- what could they do? There would be great rejoicing, to be sure, among the beevolent old ladies who have had their hearts in the antt-slavery cause, and there would be a general expectalion that the professed object of this party would be carried out; but what oiild you do? You say you could nbolish avery in the District of Columbia. Conceing this qucstionnble position for argumenl's ake, what would your act of emancipcuion mount to? Just this, that there should be o slaves held in a little Dis riet of ten] miles quare, while over the immense dornnir.s of ie Slave States you would not pretend to inerfere with it. But who does not know that our act of einancipation would not libérate single slave, even in this District? The wners, in an'icipation of such an act, would mprelv have to remove their slaves three orouí miles into tfie sdjoining Staten, and thus our act of eraancipation would be a mere ead letter - an empty triumph. Thcre would ot be one slave less than bef ore the acl toas mssed. But you say you could nbolish stavery in Florida. It is true you might have jurisdicton over the junges and morasses, almost inccessible to hum&nity. Bat by the time the et of f mancipation should be consummated, ow many of the thirty thousand slaves of Florida would be left in th j territory' How aey to transport thein to the neighboring tates? You rnight indeed proclaini Liberty lough all these brakes and ewainps and thickte; but how much"of an object would that )e, when not a solitary individual could be ound whose ears could be made glad with the ews of his restoration to long-lost freedom? 'he act for emancipation in Florida might be aesed; but ikere would not be one elave less han be f ore. You do tiot pretend you can go into the Sta-es to emancipate; but you could annoy ne elaveholders. You could prehibit the raffic in slavcs coast-wise. Well, supposing ou could, would that free the slaves? The radere then would drive thern through by and to the southern slave markets . But yon ay you could stop the traffic in slaves between the States. Now this will do to talk about: but what man of sense does not know that il would be utterly impracticable. It could ony be enforced by a continued cordon of United States officers, stationed at every twenty rods, like the revenue officers on the fronliers of France and Belgium. Aud were these officers thus statioBèd on the line of the thirteen Stares, it would be impossible to carry out the object in the midst of a population total'.y averse to ii. But conceding that you could rohibit all transition of elaves from one State ;o another, what would be gained by it? They might, indeed, be cooped up wilhin the States n which they vvere born; bat Ihere would not t one slave less (han bejore . You have now done ali you can do. You have abohshed slavery in the Federal District, and ín Florida, and prohibited the inter-State t-lave trade; and the anti-slavery powers of Congress are expended. Y our members of Congress would return to their constituents, and instead of being able to point to the improved condríion and joyous prospecte of disenthraüed millions, they must acknowledge to tliem that the Liberty party, which was organ ised for the ernancipation of 3,000,000 of" alavés, had expended all lts powers, and had not been able, with triumphant political success, ío libérate a eingle slave. There were 3,000.000 of skves when the Liberty party cornmenced its career, and there were ttíll 3,000,000 left when its grand principies and measures bad been fully consurnmated! This, the Doctor contended, must be the practical result of our political party, and íf we thought or represented it to be different, we deceived ourselves and others. But other results muat tVlow, of niorr.entoustance. When the Liberty Congress hos legislated what little it can nominally for the abolition of slavery, it must attend lo the financial affairs of the nation. What kind of currency slml] be used? How shall the reveniie be raised, by direct lax, or by a tariff ? Jf by a tariff, what principie shall be itfc basis? Now, among Liberty men there is a great diversity of opinión on thoseand kindred points, and the membere would disagree in Cougress, and come home, and appeal to their respective constituents, and thus again become divided into opposite political parties on qnestiona purely financial. Thtw the complete triumph of the Liberty party would not bnly be impotent to libérate a single alave, but it would leave the country jast where it found it - Jivided on great political questions of finance.This was the sum of the Doctor's mnin argumcnf: but he advocatcd severnl collateral propoíitions which we vvill enumérate. He Inid it down ns a first principie, that evcry party is to be judged by its professions, and nol by its acts. This is so obviously at war with common senee, that we ehould think he was misundcrstoo(l,ha he not stated itmost o.xpliciily. SjKerlinps ' "t#! Veviocracy" have especial need of this rule of interprelatiun. He comparpd the slavery question to that of irish Repra!. It would be as wise to get up a politica] party lo repeal the Union belween England snd Ireland by an act of Congress as to orgnnise the Liberty party for the extinction of 6)avery. He contended that political parties could only be successfnl on practical questions. - On finaucial matters Congress hod absolute jnnsdiction, and put its hand into the pocket of every man in this Union. Our application to the Federal Government was the rankest Federaiism. It was an at-( tempt io mnke the long arm of national power control the affaire of the States: and like other federal attempts.it had produced irrita, tion and reistance. The agitation of this question, in the manner in which it had been conducted, had put back the cnuse, especially in Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky. He believed these would now have been free States, had not this application to the Federal Government been made. Not having notes of the remnrks of the gentlemen who replied to Dr. Dentón, we cannot follow their train of thought, but shall present a few considerations of our own. which, we think, will fairly meet those advanced on the part of the negative. 1. We deny the position of the Doctor, that the abolition of slavery m the Federal District, and in Floiida by act of Congress, would be a trifling and insignificant action of that body, which would have no material effect on the permanence of slavery in the States. We take issue with him here. Even admitting that not a 6lave would be liberated by such enactments, which assertion might wpII be controverted, we still contend that such an act of legislation, by a majority of Conirress, nnd Binctioned by the President,would exert a tremendous influence on evory 6lave State in the Union. Moral and intellectual cnmpaigns, like tliose of ordinary armies, are often determined by the success of an attack upon a single hostile post. If the possession of that post be important - if it givecommand of the whole field of war, and if the enemy rallies with his full strength for its defence_it is absurd to say that it is not worth contending for, because it givee you the posse8sion of only a few acres of barren land. - The value of the post is to be estimated by the advantage its possession wil! give to either of the contending parties, for the purposes of the warfare in which thoy are engnged. - This is the view of the subject taken by the slaveh elders in reference to the Federal District. Instead of sayine to the free States, as the Doctor would, "You may abolish slapery in this District if you will; we do not care any Ihing about it; for you cannot free a singie slave;'1 they, to a man, have sfrenuously resisted it. And why? Because it would be the entering wedge for the destruction of the whole system. The abolition of slavery in that District by national authority, after full deliberation, would commit the President and both Houses of Congress to the anti slavrry pide of the question.". It would be a solemn condemnation of slavery in ollthe States. It would créate a precedent, and involve a pledge for its destruction whereever the National Government could legitimately lay hands upon it. It would be equivalent to an emphatic avowul by the who nation, that the doctrine of the Abolitionists was right. It would so change the nction of the Federal Government, that its long arm, its exlensive patronage, and mighty energies should henceforth be used for the destruction, and not the aggrandizement of the system. - Slaveholders could no longer successfully aspire to become Presidents, nor would fivesixthaiof the Cabinet be composed of that class of the enemies of human freedom, nor wouldour foreign negotïations be conducted chiefly by slavehuldeis, and for the interests of siave labor. And it would open the way for dismissing from the Halls of Congress those nine teen members who there hold aeatson account of property in men. All these resulte, and many more, would be consequent upon the single act of emancipation in the national domains, even though not a slave should be directly liberated thereby. The Doctor is a close and legitímate reasmier; and he wel! knows thatin controversies fairly involving on important principie, it matters little on what point that principia is decided. A de - cision of the principie in issue, is a decisión of the whole case. And where the contending parties fight the battle on any particular point, a decisión against them on that point is a decisión of the principie involved in it, nnd of all its consequences, however momentous. - So it is in reference to the District. The slaveholders have made an issue here, and must maintain it; and when they lose it, as they certainly will, its loss will be disastrous to their cause in the highest degree. 2. The grand error which gives to the Doctors argument its great apparent force, is an implied assumption that all the elave States, so called, ore pennanenlly pledged, fastened and bound to the support of every forrn of slavery in our country. They ai e spoken of as the elave States, in contrast with the free States,as thongh every free inhabitant of those States by birth, education, and interest, were necessarüy the sworn encniy of' freedom. - Henee the power and influence of the whole people of thirteen 6lave States is implietlly adduerd by the argument of the Doctor, as irrevocably pledged to the support of slavery. This, in itself, makee a formidable apparent ranipart against the efforts of Abolitioniets, reaching, like the walls of Ihe Canaanitish cities, unto Heaven. Now this view of the subject is totally fallacious. Our controversy is not a war of thirteen free States npon the people of thirteen bIb ves States; but upon a very small nvmber of persons residingjn those States. They have eeized the reine ofernnient thete, and control the Legislativo and Executive power, by nieans of superior knowledge, wealth and aristocratie lawa.- The slavdiolders are a mere fraction of tlie people of the slave States, ond the interesas of all the remaining people are decidedly opposed to their domiiiatio. The slaves are oppnsed to it for liberty's sake; the free colored people, on account of the oppressions put upon them by the slaveholders; aud the nonslaveholduig white people, on account of the unequal' laws mnde by slaveholders, and the preperty qimlifications for office and suft', eg-e, which so largely prcvail. The number of non slaveholding voters, com pared to eJnveholders, even under the present limitations of the right of suffrage, is nndoubtedly at least three to one. What hinders, then, that these, uniled upon onti-slavery principies, ehould become a most efficiënt wing of the Liberty party? This party proposes the entire abolition of slavery throughout the United States and Terrilories, by law, by the competent legislativo authority. The Liberty party is not. sectional. In the national doraainii, it will abolish all national slavery by actof Congress: in Kentucky, and every other slave State, by the Liberty party in Kentucky, or in that. State. The fact that no orgamsed Liberty party has made lts appearance in any slave State, does not prove that none will appear there, nor does t prove that the elements do not exist for nn efficiënt and powerful organization in each State. Every candid reasoning man will agree with Gen. Washington, that there is but one proper and efficiënt mode by which slavery can be abolished in the slave States, and that is by Legislativo authority. Now, if slavery be ever abolished in any elave State, it will be by Ihe act ion of a portion of the people through the State Lgislature; 05a and iliat portion of thö people, under whatever name or peculiarity it be organised, MOST NECES8AMLY BE A LtBERTY PaRTY. It must be so in the nature of the case. Whether emancipation come soonej or later in any slave State, the party that advocates it must be essentially identical in principie with the liberty party already existing in the freustates. Just as sure as slavery shall be abolished hy law in any ölave State, just so sure are we that the portion of the people laboring for Legislativo emancipalion, will be a Liberty party. A Liberty party, then, m each of the slave States is as certain to exi:;t sooner or later, as that emancipation will take place there; and lo say that it will never exist therQ.is to say that slavery will he perpetual. - fhat suoh a party has not yet comnienced in any tlave Stale, is not surpfising. It ia yet in its infancy. It has existed but four years in the free States. lts object as much contemplates a Liberty organiation in the slave as in the free States. The materials exist there; nnd they only need the primeval elements of üghi and truih to dispel the prevailing darkness of slavery, and the grand principies of the Liberty party will spring forth into fullnes8 of life and vigor. Hete, then, is our answer to the Doctor's often repented inquiry, " WJiat can the Liberty Party do?" It can abolish slavery in the Federal District, in Florida,and ín every State in the Union, by law, by the exercise of the proper constiuitional authority. Instead of not bcing able to free one single slave, as he so often and positively affirmed, it can and will set free every slave in our land, withouttranscending constitutional rights in the smallest degree. Instead of having no jurisdiction in tlio premises, its - legitímale control over tlie whole subject will be absolute, 6iipreme, and we may say, undispuled. In those States wherethe laws hinder the enjoymcnt of liberty, the laws csn be repealed; in those where the cons'itution prohibita emancipatory laws, the constituüon can be altered. All politica] power resides ïn the peoplc; and by the action of a majority of them, the Liberty party proposes to accomplish its objects. The length of this article precludes a notice of the minor posilions adduced by Doctor Denion. The discussion is now fairly opened, and wc hope will be continued from week to week by all pariies, with the same good feeling with which it has coiiímenced. {Lƒ The correspondent of the N. Y. Herald writesfrom Washington respecting the annexation of Texas: "The abolitionists of the North, are, of course, deeply interested in these results. The numbers of these people lmve greaty increased, particularly at the West, while their power has equally increased at the East. In many States or sections of the Union, they undoubtedly hold a balance of political power. . They are, therefore, formidable to both whig-s and democrats. And it is a remarkable fact in the political history of these identical times, that between theScyllaof the abolitionist at the North, and the Charybdis of the slaveholders of the South, both whigs nnd democrats are equally afraid of shipwreck in the Presidential election. Both Clay and Van Buren are equally reluctant to oppose publicly either the annexation or the rejection of Texas. People of less sagacity have no hesitation in declaring themselves." ftThe declaralion of Mr. Clay that he would suffer the tortures of the Inquisition before he would sign a bilí for the abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia, or give countenance to the project,'' may be round in a speech of Mr. Wise, at Northumberland, Va., April Sd, 1843, as reported in the Richmond Enquirer of April 14. So says the editor of the Cayuga Tocsin, who had been soundly rated by hts Whig neighbors i'oc publishinga wanton falshood, and look pains to look up the documente. 0 The Constitutional Democrat of Detroit,is very decided for the annexation of Texas. The Editor thinks the power of the ballot box should be brought to bear for this purpose, and recommends t the Texans to send on their Senators anc Representad ves.