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Where Do We Stand?

Where Do We Stand? image
Parent Issue
Day
31
Month
March
Year
1845
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

For some time past, we have been ntending to present to oor readers our views of the present state and future prospecta of the Liberty party. Wc have -looked over the wholc Held with much altention, and the following are the conclusions to which we have arrived. Whether they are aü correct, time Ürill show; but we deern them of sufficient moment to merit the candid consideraron of every Liberty man. The Democratie party is properly the Slaneky Party. By this we mean that as it has its asoendency only by tho help of the Slaveholders, it does any (hing they reqmre. The vvhole party is governed by (he southern portion of it. 2. The scrviütyof the party to this small ininorily of it, inslead of diminishing, jvill increase morí and more until the Sláve Power shall be overthrown,- As the F ree States combine to vindicate their owu rights and abolish slaver)', jüst in thnt proportion will the whole body of slaveholders unite witli the Democratie party, which, while it will thus receive large accessions of power at the South, will lose in an equal degree at the North.3. The position of the Whigs is different. They have just lost the control of the Uniou for fuur years by attempting to steera middle coursc? betvveen Liberty and Slavery. They cannot pluy such a game ogain. In 1848, it will not do for ihem to nomínate a Slaveholder fcr President. The northern portion of the party would immediately resist it, and sbouJd it be persisted in, the party could not avoiddefeat. Neither will the southern Whigs support a norlhem man for President, they would be afraid of him, lest he should be governed by the anti-slavery feeling of hisown seciion. The membersof the Whig party will then be compelled to choose whether they will go for slavery or againsi it. They will not go orit, because the ground wiil have been already pre-oecupied by the Democratie party; and because Uie antislavery feeling of the VVhigs of the F ree States will not permit such a ecurse. 4. It follows. then, that the Whig party, if itexisl in 1848, will be compelled to assume the attitude of an antislavery party. But. in that case, what vyill be its prospects of success? The nation . will then be d.ivided ,into two grand companies, one ready to fight for the supremacy of Slavery to any extenf,& the othopposed to it. On the one side will be found all the Slaveholders. with the Executive power and patronage at their disposal, with which they wiil hold in their pay at the North a large portion of the Democratie party. On the other side, the anti slavery. host .will cpnsist ofthree divisions: the seceding Democrats of the Free States, the Liberty party, and the greater portion of the Whigs. Now it is plain to us. that if any plan can be devised by which these three divisions of the opponents of the Slave Power can be truly and heartily united. their aggregaie forcé will be suíficient to elect a President froni the Free States in 1848. Can anv such plan bedevised.5. The ablest tacticians and most profound thinkers among the Whigs believe Ihat it can; and while the rank and file are busy in cursing the abolitionists as the cause of their defeat, these are silent]y nt werk to contrive a schëme to use the same aboliíionists for their honor and glorification in 1848. This plan, as manifested to us by various indications, will be asfollows. The object to be accornplished will be the overthrow of the slavery party in power. - .This can only be done by an unión of all the opponents of that party. The natural basis for organized opposition is thal of the Liberty party. If Slavery be an evil and a curse, let it be immediately abolished; and measures can be put in operation by a single Libertylion ihat wil] dcsiroy it in a very few years, throughout the United States. - On this basis, the Liberty party will be ready to act in 1848. On this basis, the seceding portion of the Democrats can be induced to act. But will the Whigs corrie on to this ground1? They will nol. 1 cause it will be letting down ther dignity to corne over to a little party whom they have so much hated, abused, ridiculed and i despised: because they cheri&h a sort ofimplacable hatred ngainst mony prominent membersof the Liberty party, with ■whom they would be obliged toact, if they cameon to their ground; and because a portion of the Whig party will have too littlé anti-slavery to susiain Whait they ■will consider the radical propositions of] the Liberty party. It is evident, then, that under the guidance of the Wliigs, the whóle anti-slavery host will not be raarshalled on the basis of the Liberty party. What then ís to be done? The re is bul one.other alte.rnative. OToOrganizi; - Oíi ÁN0T1IE11 BASIS, AXD DRAW OFF THT. IjIBfcRTY PARTY TO ITS SUPFORT.JQ The SRtnë-f Whigs have aírcady commenced épc'rations to carry this scheme into effect. . Their project aow is to build pNorthern Partt, whidvsball bc ari antagonist to ihé Slavery parFy. Todo thissucccssfuHy, thcy must enüst ail the Wl.igsandthe Liberty party, and as manynorthern Democrats aspossible. Many of tho Whigs papers aro at work in, döctrinnling their readers uith antUslavery sentiments, ano with statisiics of southern arrogranco, njusticcand oppression. Tney nlso ooniinuc ti.eir usua] WiCt upon the Liberfy party, even while they are proclaiming ihc le?s ur.p.'pn'ar pordon of its prmcrïplcs. Three ol.jccts are to ue gainod by this: t prevenís secessions from their rnnks to the Libeity porty; it bVfngs over the pro-slavery part of Iheir own party to act in opposition to Slavery; and it prejudices the wbole community against Birney. Lcavilt, and other prominent Lil)erly men whose influencc tliey fear wil! be exerted to the utmost againsi them. Thus, while abusing ihc Liberty party, they yj1l gradual]y adopï a portion of its principies; and while declaiming against the "lenders'; of the party, they will be preparing its rank and file, as fust ns possible, lor defeclion fromnsstnnd.rd. "The Wlíigs as a bccïy, have not vet taken any avowed nction on ihe project, because the time has not come lor open tlecíar-ations upon.tho matter, and bccouse they wish to first ascertajn the result of ciie scheme Cor annexing Texas, by the finnl issue of which their plnn may be somewhnt modiíied. But if the portion of the Whïgs who have embraced this schéme shall be successful in bringing the great body of their party into it. in 1848 we shall seethe Whig ílng raised on high, inscribed -Northern Riohts" ond :No Dictation of Slavkholders" W.itli this banner, ihey will go through the Noi-th; and Liberty men Vrrfl every where be urged to enlist under it by the most plausible argunients and ntreaties. The most liberal offers will be made them. Tliey vvill be told substantially thusr uYou want the Slave Power overthrown, and sodo we. You cannot overthrow it clone and singlehanded: neither can we. But whenever we choose to unile our forces, we can do it with ease. We propose to allempt ilnotc, and weask you to help us. We wüi make you. an offer of the most liberal cliaracter. You may select f rom our ruuks the mot zealous onti-slavery men you catj finij, and we will nomínate thern for President and Vice President, if you will u-nile with lis ana"I)ëTp put them" in. Seward, Davis, Fillmore, Giddings, Slade, or any others - choose whom you wil!, and we will go for theni. You may question them on antislavery matters till you are fully satr. isfied of their soundness. By joining with us, your work will be done up at once, in a single campaign. You will tben have elected a President and Vice President j who will do every thing for you that Mr. Birney or Judge Jay could do; antislavery principies will be triumphant, and the Slave Power overthrown. ■ On the other hand, i f you refuse this offer, you will sui'ely be defeated, for you cannot succeed without us, and we shall probably be defeated, lor we cannot hope to certainly succeed without your nid, and ihe Slave Power will be enabled to doiriineor over us all for tour years longer, until 1852, when you will be coir.pelicd to fall in with the very proposition we now make to you."A proposa! of this kind vou!d certa in !y present very strong temptations to the impatient and unstable mernbers of tlie Liberty party. But would ít be v.isc to accept such an offer? To test ibis, let us suppose the thing proposed to be done under the most favorable auspiecs. Let us suppose Gov. Sewarcl to bc the nominee for President, and Mr. Giddings for Vice President. Suppose them to bs questioned. Mr. Seward might properly reply that if elected President, lic would recommend to Congress to aboüsh slavery in the Federal District, and abolish the trafric on the .ocean and bctween thfi States, and would sign bilis for these purpeses. Mr. Giddings might nnsvver in a similar manner. Suppose thern elected. Suppose TIr. Seward to fulfil all his engagements. He is but a single part of the government. He cannot make laws nor repeal them. Suppose his recommendation tocóme upbefore Congress; is there anv certainty of its adoplion? -Fhere would be a powerful minority of Lhe slavery party, and a very few members from jhèsNortb svho had been elected me rel y as VhJgs, could defeat lhe whole movement. -And is it to be supposed ihat Northern hjen would be very zealous forthc Aboïilion Slavery whcn they had been elected onlyon the ground ofopposition to ils Diclatioii} There is great reason to believetliat thé vhole action of a party eiected to po-.ver Under sucii circumstances would bc feebit andinefficiënt, cautious and defensive, not uggressive and destructive. This llien, would be the final result. A Northern Right's Whig party would be in power: the Slavery party would be önly temporarily defeated; and the Liberty party I would have ceased to exist! Are we prepared thus to sell out at half price when we might juist ás ensily have all that we seek? Now look nt the other side of the question. The Liberty men, if faithful to Itheir cause, wijl have a party in 1S-Í8 that will be Iiiglily respectable in is character, unexceptionnble in its principies, extending through every Free State, am embracing in its ranks scveral hundred thotisand of the Cree voters of the NorthNo Norihern party can succced without 5ur liclp. ir we do hot go lo them, they must come to usf. They may be reluctint todo it, but come they must, or ese ibrever remain Ihe subjects of the Slave Power. This s a fixed fací, As to the lime when they will come, it is at their nption. Ifihey chooso. tounite wiili us in 1848 in electing Liberty meri lo office who wüi subsíanfiaüy abolish slavery in tlie four yearsToncuing, tiicy can do so; ur they con run a scpai'aíc ti'c1et ofllicir .'úvn.whieh wilt be protty certain to be defeajed; and thus tfjeir votes will be Iruhj ihrown awny, and nothing will be lofí them hut to un te wilh us in 1852, or as soon thereafter as they please. Liberty men occupy the truk antislavehv ORorrxDon which, if we are wot seduced from ir; the whole antislavery féfepg of the nation will yet be marshallerf. Herc we are sure. not only of viclory, but of futt and ampie triumph; but when we le'ave it, and compromise our principias, and join aaother parly which oceupies different ground, what security have we thnt we shüll succeed? Suppose we should unite wiíh a Nortbem narly in 18.48. and they should be deleafed, whero would fhen be the Liberty party? It woula i-ot be in e.xistenoe: wti'ile our defeat merely as a Liberty party would not nnpair our strength in the least.6". Evcry stage of a political party, likethat of humnn 1 i fe, has iís peculiar dnngersand difficulties. During the last four years, while we were vet in infancy, attempts were made to smolher us, to brow beatus, to ridicule us. to prophesy us down, hut ail in vain. It is noiv conceded that we are alive, and vigorous, and growing, and if we hold on, we shall vet dosomething respectabie. The.policy o( on r enemies will therefore now be changed. We shall be tried with flattery and seduction. The principies of the Liberty party will be commended while itsorganization will bedisapproved; and the members will be tempt ed by various allurements ío leave its standard for the sake of accompli sliing Ikeir oijecfs in some olhër icay. Onr greatcst danger wiil iie in thetsmptations to comtromise principies. Let none thitik the danger iaiaginary because it is as yet generally unseen. If we mistake not, ibis is the weakesl side of Liberty men. We have been astonlshd ut our own experience on this subject. The very men who have faeed brickbats, clubs, abuse and contumelv in every shape withoul flinching tbr a moment, are ready to catch at the first bait thrown out by their enemies, and, for all practical purposes, compromiso away the very principies for which, if assailcd in another miinner, they would be ready to lay dovnlbeir lives!. We would not be censorious upon our brethren: but we feel bound to express tiie apprehension we entertain lest those who love the Liberty party most should, by their readiness to fall in with insidious propositions from our enemies, be directly instrumental in greatly diminishing its numbers and infiuence, and delaying the day of ís triumph. We repeat that our o-reatesi danger hencelorth will be from Co.mprosiise: if we avoid it, we shall be safe. Let every man set his face as a flint against it in every form.LrsF-RTY Men! Be not dcceived! We have chosen the right position. By maintaining it we shall be sure of ultimare success. Be not led away f rom the Liberty platform. Do not be impaticnt. - Nothiug but the utter desLruci 'ion of Slnvery will accoinplish what we seek. - Then why not maintain our position till it shall be done? No Northern partij can succeed itxUlwul our aid. We have orcanized forlhe AbolttioxoT Slaverv - not its limitaiion or diminulion. Instead of trust ing to another party to do our work which never held our principies. lot usdo it ourt-clves. Instead of "Voting for men to do it who never showed their faces in an antislavery moeting, let us still adhere to our noble and truehearted iends till we cnn put into their hands fíe requÍ8te power and vve shall find in he end that ihey will carry out our utnost wishes for the removal of this blighting curse from our land.0r= In voling on tlienew Postage bill, he delegaiions from Kentucky and JVIaryland divided; but fïom the other eleven Slave States, only two votes were given for the bill! Theslaveholders preierred the old plan by which the Norih paid thern half a million a year to carry their lean and lank mails over their rough roads to the far disfant post offices.' Besides this, four slaveholders published their card in the National Intelligencer. assigning as a special reason for voting gainst the bilí, that the 19tli section reqiires lhat the carrying of the mails should 1)0 lel by the Government wil kout nny refercnce to ihe mode of Iransportation. 'f lus is contrary to ího usual custoinof the Government hitheito, and these gentlemen say that the new plan will dost roy al most all the "stage accoinmodalion," of the South! The contractors. undei' Ihe new lavv can carry the mail, i f they please, in a mud-cart and the stage proprietors being thus deprived of the support of the General Government, will discontinue their lines; and how then can gentlemen rid&? Alas for the poor, helplcss. shittless South!

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Subjects
Signal of Liberty
Old News