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Review Of The Liberty Party--Continued: New York

Review Of The Liberty Party--Continued: New York image
Parent Issue
Day
3
Month
June
Year
1844
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

The popuïation of New York ín 1840, was 2,423,835, being about 200,000, greater ihan that of the six New England States. New York has 34 Ri-preseiitníivps in Congress: the six New England States liave Si: New York hos S6 Electora of President: the six New England Siaies have 43. Henee New York has received the appellation of ihe "Empire State," because its great infloence, when thrown into the seale for nny Presidential candidate, goef5 far towards making his election certain. Mr. Greely, of the New York Tribune, contends thot if New York can be pairied for Mr. Clny. all will be safe for the Whig party, because enoug-h of the smaller Statescan be had to make out Mie other 102 electoral votes necessary to constitute a ehoice. On this very account, therefore, New York will be thoroughly contested next fall by Whigs and Democrats. In 1840, the whole number of votes given ?n the State was 441, 152, of which Van Buren received L12,57, Harmon 225 317,, Birney 2,803. In 1841, the Liberty vote was 5,332: in 1342, it was 7,283; in 1343", 16,275 for Governor, being some 9,440 less than the vote of New England. In 1840, the Liberty vote was one in 157 of the whole; in 1343, jt was one in L7 of the whole. The Whig mujority foi Governor in 1840 was some fouror five thoueand for Seward: at the last elecfion, the Democrat6 had a majority of some 20,000. The prospecta of the Liber'.y party, in ihe greater part of the State, are highiy encouraging. The Liberty papers are five in number, as folio ws: 1. The Albuny Patriot, published by E. VV. Goodwin, at Albany. It was formeily called the Tocsin of Libeny. It ie a good paper. and seems able to take care of itelf. L. The Liberty Prees, published at Utica.- This and the Patriot have a united circulaticn of 4000. S. The Countryman, at Perry, Wyoming County. ït has been rccently enlarged, and ís evidently prospering. 4. The Democratie Freeman, at Syracuse, by J. N. T. Tucker, a spiriíed paper. 5. One in Cortland County, recently comincnced, which we have not seen. Besides the issues of newspopers, very large editions of tracts, of all kinds have been published and distributed through the State, and to this agency do we attribute much of the íncreased vote of last year. New York has many talented and wholeeouled abolitionists, the worthy sons of so great a State. Among tho6e who have recently espoused the Libnrty p&rty areLewis Tappnn, Jüdge Jay, anJ S. W.Gates. Mr. Toppan was opposed to the Liberty party, in 1840, and wrote an able article, entitled, "Fifteen reasons against the formation of a Third Party," which had a large circularion in the Whig papers. Judge Jay, of West Chester County, son of John Jay, has wiitten several vaJuable anliilavery works, bul did not identify himself with the Liberty Party till last year. His name has been mentioued as a proper candidate for the Presidency. Hon. Seth M. Gates was always an abolitionist when a member of Conress, and a liberal couuibutor to the cause. He came near losing his seat just previous to his lasr election oti account of receiving a colored clergyman nto his chutch pew, and him between himself and his wife. This was an outrage on pjiblic opinión 'A-hich could scarcey be overlooked.Öf Alvan Stewart we need say nothihg. - He is wel! known to onr readers by his vvriUngs and by reputation as a powerful nnd effective speaker. He is a proleclive Tanfl man. Gerrit Smith is nlso famous throughout the U. Slates,as ü straight out & rotjier ultra Aboütionist. Uis great wealth finds cfiannels of benevolence al most as numerous as tlie woen 'of mnn. He was originally a strenuous colr.nizationist, nud was eipw to juin the AiHiSlavery raks. But bis works have deononstrated that he is wUh us in earnest. He is a sincere nnd scrnpnlous Christian. He is opposed. we believe, toa Tariff of any kind o mornl grounds - becauee Government has n right lo flop in beteen man and man, whe they are trying to promote their mutual bene fit by mutual exchanges, and inipose prohib tions or hindrances pon theni. Mr. Smith alw) remarkabl e for his great candor and fair ness of argument, in which he is an e.ninen exampTe to poüticians. But sincc the com mencement of his Sunday lectures, he has as sumed a tone of severity, rebuke, and censure especially towards the clêrg-y of iiis vicinity tvhich is strongly in contrast wilh his usua mildnees. These-severe censures and rebukes however, for aught wc know to the contrary, may be justly deserved by thosc on whom they are bestowed, and if so, his ciurse in thus conderaning thein is sancüoncd by tlie expres example of Christ and the Apostles. - There are occasions on which it becomes a good man to speok in slrong terms; anda fuilure to do so is recreancy to Cbristian duty.Mnny of our readers will recollect the thrill of aflected honor fhat rao through the country some years since, wben Mr. Sirïitb wrote an Address to the Slaves, recommending to them to toke the liorse, the boat, and whatever other things might be esseníial lo their escape from slavery. A great outcry was raised at the time because Mr. Smith recommended to slaves "to stea!." But the ful! investigation of thal subject bas resulted in sustaining the propriety of Mr. Smilh's adviee, and, in our opinión, has been of csse7itial service to our cause, by bringing prominentiy lo view the facf, absiractly acknowleoged indeed, but indistinctly comprehended nnd fainlly feit, that the slave is a man, and has all the rights whicb can appertain to our nature. Gerrit Smith lives in the Connty of Madison. He has used untiring efforts for years tbr its regeneration fron the dominion of Rum and Slavery. Last summer he commenced a íems of meetings on the first day of the week, which were held in the open air, and were very numerously atleuded. In these meetings he prayed, read the Scriplures, and expounded unto the people what lie conceived to be their polhrcal duties as Christians. The meetings have been represented by those who attended them as orderly and solemn. Much hult was found with Mr. Smith, because he ieid thefe meetings on the Sabbath, and because he preached politics to Ihe people on hat day. In reference to the propriety of lolding these meetings on the Sabbath, there s a difièrence of opinión among abolitionii?t6 and through the communily; but we have never heard from any source that the mater of his discourses was in any way inappro)riate to the occasion. Hnpes were enter ained by some that the connty would give a jiberly majority last fal!; but Mr. Smith's ectures and other exciting causes were the occasion of a general musier of the whole )optilation at the polls, and the Democratie icket had a considerable Mr. Smith has taken the field again, and internis to continue bis meetings through the summer on the first day of the week. Madison coun ty bas about seven thousand volers: and the permanent conversión of the County to Liberty principies will give an Ímpetus to the cause throughout the country. Our opponents have had considerable reoicing over the fact tbat New York city, with a population of 340,000, being considerably greator than that of Michgan. has never given more than Uvo or three hunc'red Liberty votes, and it is not known that even the form of a Liberty organization now exisís there. - Yet Anti Slavery meetings without number lave been held in the city and addressed by the best talentsin the country; the Emanciator was published there for years: and immense quantities of books and periodicals were iseued from the office. There can be no doubt that the same amount of expense and effort which have been bestowed in New iTork with no apparent effect, would have made thousands of Liberty voters, if distributed among the log dwelüngs and log Schoollouses of Michigan. The result in other cities is nearly similar. The Liberty vote in Boston is abont 400, in Albany about 70, in Utica, Rochester, Buffalo, Detroit, Cincinnati, fcc. it is a mere trifie in comparison of vvhat it is in the same country populntion. - Whence, then, it is asked, arises tbis difference; and does it not show that there is 6omehing wrong in your organization, when the great numbers of intelligent people who ibound in citiee, with scarcely nn except ion, rjecl your political scheme'? We oan menion several consideratjons in explanation of his phenomenon, which are 6atisfacory to is. 1. Men ai e mutually acted on by each other. A person entirely isolated from the human race will form his conclusión from the workings of his ovvn raind, & he will act them out without th.3 least restraint. Add one ersoii to his society, and the opinon.- and practises of tbat pereon will vastiy modify hisown. Add ten thousand persons, and he will scurcely darc to separate himself rom all the rest, ond stand out singly and lono against their united opinions and pracises. The condetinns of nn abolitionist in a rity may be as strong as those of a farmer who sees bis neighbors only once a week; but he reluctance to act consisten! ly by depositing a solitary vote for Liberty will be far greater in the city merchant than in the isolated farmer. The one goes against the opinión of a few neighbors with whom he has comparatively little intercourse; the other incurs the óisapprobation of many thousand people, many of tbem his superiors in knowledge, wealth and standing, to whose censure, pity, or ridi- sucule lie is hourly expusetl in private jnter course, and also through the unceasing issue of the claily prees. L. The influenco of tbe slaveholders is fel much more in cities. They reside there- and someiimeö to a considerable extent, the control thepressand the pulpit. S. Judge&, Governors, and Honorables o every kind dweil in cities, and strongly pre possess dio mase against Liberty princi j les. 4. The poliiical course of the citizen8 i shaped almosl entirely by Ihe Daily Press; am as the Liberty party hnve had no daHy pres in most of ihe cities, they have had but littl influenceon the niass of the voters. It does not follow, howèver, that poliiico revolutions can not take place in a city. Bu they occur much more snddenly. He who learl a new party in a city suceeds vcry soon, o hc finds himself nlniosl nlone. That new pnrties can succeed is shown by ihe reeen election in Kcw York in which tho Nativ Amei-ican ticket succeeded ngainst both th others. It is soid that in New Orleans, few years since, the same ticket swept all be fore it, and next year it received about a doz en votes. Frotn all thoac considerations, it is plaii that the cities can be carried for the cause o Liberty; but it cannot be done without the aid of a daily pres?, and it wil! probably be done at once. The cities will come last. We do not, however, regard the anli-slavery labor expended on cities as lost. The soil will ultimately repay cuïtivation to as great an ex tent, perhaps as that of the country; but those who labor upon it must wait longer for their harvestp.The Old Organizntjon Aboütionists have o paper in JNew York city, which has been much opposed to the Liberty party. It ie now edited hy David Lee Child, formerjy a Whig, and the paper Jeans very etrongly towafds tlie sopport of that party - so much so as to cali out the open rebukes of some of the prominent men of thè Old Orgonization. The Whig party of this State have generilly supportedthe rigbt of petition, nnd have rcprchSated, to some ex'en', the insr.lent encroachmeHts of the Slave Power. The many and highmindcd course of Governor Seward in resisling the haughty demands of tbe Slaveholders, has won lor him a high estimaion as a Etatesman of distinyuislied ability nd unyielding firmnees. But he himself ap )ears to have been fully a ware of the price be must pay for his independence- the loss of Southern favor - which is an absolute prerenisiteto high national advancement. Accordngly, knowing his hopeless prospecte on this ccount, he has repeatedly declined unitinolis political destinies with those of Mr. Clay, )ut while he husrnewed his vows of aJle iance to the VVhig pnriy he has urged upon )em the necessity of building tbeir orgonization upon the broad basis of the righta of man of every climate, color, country or condiod, and he declares that the ameüoration of ie condition of society which our country eeds, and which he hopes for, in his opinión, vill be accomplished only through the Whig arty. Governor Seward has been 6uspected fa leaning towards Political Abolilionism - n accusation he ha? promplly rebuked as un ounded and unjtist'. His resistance to the South however, has forced him into a retireicnt which is in facf, a real proscription. - jike Davis and Fillmore, he must now rehnuisli all hopes of national office until the Slave Power shall be overthrown, or until, ike Granger, Cusliing, and Webster, he makesatoneinent for his past sins in the deence of human freedom, by submissively owing the knee to the dark spirit of Slavery o any extent of degiedaüon ihat may be im)Oied upon him.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Signal of Liberty