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"of Two Evils We Should Choose The Least."

"of Two Evils We Should Choose The Least." image
Parent Issue
Day
31
Month
July
Year
1847
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Perhaps there has been, for the lest five or six ycars, no language so often used by a certain poütical pariy in our nation and certainly none so often misused and perverted, as the alove quotation. Ás a proposition i physlcs, it may be, and undoubtedly often is, a mere truism but as a proposition in ethics 01 moral hilosophy, nolliing can be more untrue, irrational, and absurd. lst. It is truo, tlmt a man pre-sed by ' hünger, and being offered two bad loaves, may innocently choose the best of the btid. 2d. It is nlso '.rué that a man, placed in a position to suffer disgrace, privfttioD, or pan - if a!low?d an aliernative, may choose the least painful or disagreeable, provided the clioice do not involve moral Unpitude or obliquity of principie. Bd. But it is equally trae, that in all moral question?, or questions involving moral action, a man can have no choice innocently - he is bound to reject allevil; for if le may innocently choose between moral evils, "bc may innocently choose a moral evil ; and of coürse maf choose sin - and as all moral evil involves gailt n the participator, the bare statement of th'e proposilion is sufficient to prove that a moral being has no right to adopt any course of action, which involves the sustuinment of moral wrong, or those who do suslain it. Now let us apply 'these femarks : The Liberty party, a few years since, were very stronuously urged to abandon their organization, turn traitor to iheir convictions of truth, and moral duty ; and go over to the support of one of the two Ieading polilical pícües of that day ; and whcn Liberty men objp.cted, and urged the nconsistency of supporting any slavehnhlcr, as a moral as well as politica! wrong-doer, e were gravely told, not onlv by politicians of high and low degree, but by Rev. Divines : (nay - and are, even at this day by some, though it is to be hoped, there are bul very few, so lost to principie and gone over to Atheism) - lthat we were bound to choose the least of two moral evils" - thus urging ds, nccorJing to their own showing, to choose an evil, arid thereby admitting their party and princ;)l"s and candidates to be evil and wrong, a.iJ Jherefore univorlhy' of support. The absurdity nnd wickédness of the pfoposnl musí al once strike evefy one, who will refleft - that in the first plice it was a mere pelilio quesiio, to assume that thrre was any difTerence b tween the two randidates, buth lived and had long l'ved, in t he habitual practice and justin cMion of the same most gross moral sin and wrong, as weil as politica] inconsistency ; that ofconstantly trampling in the du.-,t, not ouly ihe personal liberties of tiieir fellow men, but their social relations, their rights of education, and all those blood-bonght and inestimable religious privileges which we justlv hold to be of priceless value - nay, worse, infinitely wore, if possible ; compel their fellow men and women to live and herd togetlier all their lives, in a state of the most horrid concubinage and adultery ! Secondly - resalís have shown, that had the Liberty party Leen as weak, and ■wicked as this party desired; and as a party, gone over to the women-whipper and eradle robber, it is easy to show that this would not have effected their object. There asiot, and il is not pretended there was, in 1344, any Stale but New York, in which the Liberty party held the b-ilance of power. And let us see whether ihey in fact held it in favor of the Whig puity, even in '.hal Staie. The Liberty vote in New York in 1844, was 15,812 - of these more than one-third f.anie froin the Democratie party. But say one-third would be 5,'270 - which would leave 10,542. And I presume the Whig pa'-ty will have the modely to adnrt that had the Libortj' party dissolved, they would have deriven' no slrength Trom this portion of the Liberty party : uay, il is fair to conclude that thousands of Itiose who hid come originally from tha VVhig rank--, would have staid at home, or from very shame and disgust at the nconsisiency of their party, gone over to the Democratie party. But snppose they had severally gone back to their old ranks - the 5,270 taken from the Democratie party would oft'set the same Humber who went t the VV'higs, leaving but 5,270 for the added strengt!) of that party, whereas PoHc's nmjority was over 0,000. But, thirdly - Could we have known what has since resultpd ; that Polk would be elected without our vote against him - that Texas would be annexed - ('and that on die cont.-ftry, liis antagoni.-t, if elecied, would have lied, nn) refn ed to annex Texas.) nnj tliat the Mexican war would ensue- -all this wopld nol in the slighlest degree have varied our duty in the premis-es - unless we assume firstly the liorrid principie that we may "do evil that good may come :" For I suppose there ia oot a Whig or Dcmocrat in the lanH who would not be horror-struck hy ihe proposition to hokl up ns candidate for the Presidency, a horse-thief, counterftiiter, or burglar - and et .vhat, in the estimatioi of God and holy angels, ns well as juit inen, is or cnn be, the guilt of him who takes vour horsc, or brenks your house and iateyour goods, orbnth, cornpared with him, wh'fy not sntisfied wiili this, takes wiiti them, vurself, yoar wife, your children, your soia1' rights, your chastity, your intellect, and w.'th ït your capacity for the enjoymenl of those' spiritual blessings, which alone are able to prepare you for the joys ol heaven - and then shuts u(i nnd locks and bars the door of knowledge ngainst you, by prohibiting your education, and therefore, the fulfillment of thnt solemn co nmand of the Savior - "Searcli the Scriptures - for in them ye ihink you have eternal life - and they nr they which testify of me." Centreville, 17th July, 1847.

Article

Subjects
Signal of Liberty
Old News