%•• V A v v I . fife*- vs§&. ^ t < \,..»¥a-. -ail ^w •« .? CT 6 ° " • ♦ *b .i* . * ' • ♦ ^* 0* c • " • -r "*b -i^ Vl N *i O Wr* : ****** °°WWS ^\'*W^s^\ °*W^ ; J LETTERS ADDRESSED TO THE FRIENDS OF {>i>*>* . the slave States, as to their internal policy; f the North have- :i right to maintain the principles of freedom, if they I i at question is, will they make the necessary We Bee there are mi a in the c r nat political parties who court the slaveholders' and in various ways, especially by conventional proceedings, either boldly go over i" sla mother their position, as they deem necessary, to deceive their con- stituents. AVI. - of men see the lull bearing of this slavery question, there will be no doubt of the result. Then the political sophistry, now so ingeniously thrown the people, will be scattered ; and they will not submit to be a degraded caste when they realize they are controlled and governed by a small body of slaveholders. This i now the case with the non-slaveholding whites in the slave States; and in so much as relates to the general government, it is the case with every non-slaveholder in the United States. Already this influence i~ felt in the free State governments. Recent events have de- ed this, in a measure, that thirty years ago would have produced an insurrection. No i lligent mind, imbued with the love of freedom, can survey the present politi. . of our country, without feeling deep alarm. And still it is evident the mind of our people general! . ill, appreciate our condition. As yet, it has not dislm' . the pursuits of business, and men are everywhere full of ac- tisitv, and absorbed in individual enterprise. It is the policy of those who, in the free perate with the slaveholding party, to maintain the impression that we, in the fi have no interest in the question of Slavery. If they can maintain this impression a few years longer, their power, now ruling the country, will be concentrated rengthened to such a degree, that the friends of freedom may awake too late. The government is the organized power of a country, and all history shows the supe- riority of its efficiency over voluntary effort. It conducts affairs with system — brings to its aid strong interests, and usually holds the timid in co-operation or neutrality. We have sufficient evidence of this. If a fugitive slave is to be captured, the effort of every of the government is speedily in aid. But a band of armed men invade a free territory under the special charge of the government, drive the election judges from their itimidate them, and the legal electors are driven from their rights by vio- lence, ition is aroused in the free States by these attacks, which break up th" v ry foundations of free government; and yet, the only action of the government has the officer who remonstrated against the outrage. It is not worth while to complain of the auxiliaries to interest in the free States ; they act on the same basis of self-interest as do the slaveholders, it is the ~ame as in all o abinations to ratic or strong governments — the object being to render the many sub" few. ire. '.in, or what we understand to be a government that maintains equal political ha 1 :■. long reign in any age or any country. Our country has had yed of maintaining it to a good old age, and may still hold t '. if tie- power and influence oJ Slavery can 1- confined to the Slave .p. -lied to hold, in the federal government, an influence only equal to their representation. This will be the ease when it is no longer necessary for a man in the free States, in order to obtain the appointment of deputy-postmaster, to pro- claim his allegiance to the slaveholders' policy. This is the point — How shall the free States regain their equality, and hold their just influence in the general government? Not certainly by any proceeding to interfere with the constitutional rights of the Slave States. "We do not object to the appointment of slaveholding postmasters in the Slave States ; but we have a right to ask that all local officers and agents of the general government in the free States shall have the right of holding the sentiments of freemen. If we cannot do this, we have no claim to the title. It is obvious the slaveholders are now the basis of an aristocracy, already bold and ex- acting, that must, if not checked, subvert the long cherished principles of individual free- dom in this country. Can they be checked ? A question of deep importance. They will gather additional forces by time ; more auxiliaries will be found, and to defer the struggle will increase its intensity. In regard to the means of the free States to make successful resistance to the Slave party, it is well to consider the difficulties ; for it has been well said, the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. The struggles of freedom have always been attended with discordant views among its friends. In its ranks are found the ultra men, ardent and uncompromis- ing, unwilling to do a little good, and usually wasting their strength in an impracticable reaching after objects that fail to secure the co-operation of the prudent friends of the cause. Men who have long acted and been identified with the democratic party, considering democracy as expressing the very element of freedom, and as necessarily hostile to every form of aristocracy, are slow to believe that any party acting under the name, can be used to subvert the fundamental principles which the term implies ; and, doubtless, large num- bers of them will feel so much repugnance to acting with any other organization, that they will linger in their old ranks, even against their own convictions ; and though decided friends of freedom, will be slow to see that a name they hold in veneration is perverted, to destroy the very object its name imports. Other political parties will have more or less tenacity of attachment to their own organization and peculiar issues, and will be slow to see the propriety of uniting with others in order more effectually to resist a great evil, which concerns, in an eminent de- gree, the interest of the masses in all political parties in the free States. For if the cur- rent of freedom cannot flow securely in the free States, their party organizations will be of little avail. There are numerous friends of freedom who do not see its danger in a degree sufficient to lay aside for the time other issues that are comparatively of little importance, and these will be adroitly urged, and cause more or less division on the great question of political freedom. It is clear much embarrassment must be felt in forming such an organ- ization as will secure power to check the united action of the slaveholders' party. It is, believed however, these embarrassments will be overcome, and that there is sufficient appreciation of the principles of freedom, by the mass of men in the free States, to sur mount all impediments, and successfully resist the encroachments of the slaveholders' party. It cannot be that we have been so much mistaken in the intelligence of the free States, as to justify the belief that they will submit to the violent and judicial encroachments of the slaveholders' party on their rights, and thus receive the chains that are ready to clasp their liberties. We may properly sympathise with the enslaved African ; but we are now too much concerned to secure and maintain our own freedom. If we fail, as a people, to see through the misty sophistry that selfish politicians and others interested in 8 co-operation with the slaveholders' party are now throwing around this subject, we shall B unworthy of the boon, and American freedom must take its place among other great failures of the promising efforts that have, for a time, encouraged the hopes and raised high the expectation of progress in the great field of human rights. gerous things, when they are used to belie their signification and destroy the principles of their true definition. Let us not be deceived, but bear in mind that the thing the mesa of oar people desire, is the maintenance of civil and political free- dom; and Lei DO other bane interfere with the security of this great object. The place- men will stand aside when the people assert their rights, and show that they are not to be deluded by the name " democracy," sounded by the lips of false men, who use the term as an instrument to prostrate its principles. Hampden. FREEDOM vs. SLAVERY. [From the Evening Post, September 9, 1856.] Since my first number, published in your paper 20th September, 1855, events have occurred eminently calculated to interest the friends of freedom, both in this country and elsewhere, as to the final result of the great experiment we are making to establish and maintain the principles of just and equal government — principles in which the masses of men, and all who delight to contemplate the highest progress of human society, have a deep interest. I am fully aware of the impression that very extensively prevails among our citizens, that we are in no danger of sacrificing these principles. "We have been long accustomed to look at slavery, as it existed in the slave States, to be a matter that no way concerned us, or involved us in any danger of its consequences being introduced in the free States. The institution of slavery, as it exists in the slave States, we in the free States claim no right to interfere with by any political action whatever. But we insist on the right of discus- sing the subject of slavery as it affects the principle of freedom — and the propriety of its extension into free territory. If the spirit of slavery is hostile to the principle of freedom, then we cannot too carefully restrain its power to the States that have adopted it, and prevent encroachment on the rights of the free States. The element of slavery is hostile to the principles of a sound democracy. This has recently been manifested by events that cannot be mistaken. If free speech and a free press be destroyed, freedom is lost. It was a cardinal point in Jefferson's creed, " that error might be tolerated, reason being left free to combat it." How is this principle carried out in the slave States ? Do the non- slaveholding white population enjoy free discussion ? Dare any man in the slave States discuss the right or expediency of slavery, in its political bearing, in any way adverse to the interests of the slaveholders ? The case of Underwood, of Virginia ; the attempt to get up a Republican meeting at "Wheeling ; the case of an eminent clergyman in South Carolina, and numerous other instances, afford the answer. A public meeting is called to honor a representative in Congress; a clergyman does not consider it proper to sanction, by his presence, an act of violence, that could not be justified on the basis of propriety, right, or civilization; and holding (as may be iuferred) the opinion of Jefferson, that if any error had been committed, it should have been reserved to reason, and Dot the club to Correct it ; for this he is driven from the State I ! well km '.wi that Jefferson was jealous of the judiciary — an arm of government, that in other countries had greatly baffled the efforts for freedom. Bj long foresight be slaveholders have brought the officers oi (he United S court-* under their inflin ace. In DO part of the country, slave or free, has il been prac- ticable to obtain the appointment of a man, who is not known to be right, in the slare- holders' view, on the question of slavery. The dexterity with whicli courts fiud law and pleas to do what they like, ia proverbial : courts of law are a dangerous foe to liberty when they have an interest to 6erve against it, and that interest the appointing power. It has already been held by a branch of the United States Court, that a slaveholder from a slave State may travel or make temporary sojourn with his slaves, for business or pleasure, in a free State, notwithstanding any laws of the free State to the contrary. Let this point be once established, and it will be an easy step to hold as the constitu- tional right of a slaveholder to go with his property of slaves, and make permanent loca- tion in any free State. ' Then he must be allowed to sell his property ; and if slavery is a good thing, the African slave trade must be opened. Let it not be supposed that this is a far-fetched idea of danger. Power is progressive, and its votaries never relinquish their efforts to strengthen their peculiar interests. The Constitution is good for them, when it answers their object, and when not, force is the resort. The great point now aimed at by the slaveholding interest, is the full control of the General Government, and the means to perpetuate that control; to centralize the General Government ; to concentrate its power, and hold the State governments in chock ; and gradually, but surely, control their action in all matters that affect the interest of the aristocracy that now seeks to con- trol our institutions — a line of policy that our early democratic fathers were exceedingly jealous of. Is it safe that they hold that control ? This is a question of absorbing interest to every friend of freedom, and it is a cheering aspect that so many are beginning to dis- cuss it, irrespective of the trammels of party. It is breaking up old party lines, and drawing the just distinction between profession and principle. — Between those who slander candidates and hide their real object by cunningly devised sophistry, and those who struggle for the great principles of freedom. "Perpetual vigilance" now as ever, " is the price of freedom " We are now on the eve of a general election, excited by the hostility of the general government against the freedom of Kansas Territory, as manifested by its countenance of , and acquiescence in forays that have spoiled the ballot-box, destroyed the presses of the free State men, burned their habitations, plundered the property, imprisoned and murder- ed them, and all for the crime of espousing the cause of freedom. Who are the parties organizing for the contest ? The Buchanan democrats have for their basis the slaveholders ; so decided are the slaveholders for them, that few, if any, slave states are expecting to have a ticket for the Republican candidates. A large portion of the old leaders in the northern democracy have gone over to the slaveholders, and hope to carry some of the free States by the prestige of the name. To these are added, from other parties, all the aristocratic members, some of whom have repudiated the Declaration of Independence, and doubtless, had they lived at the time of the Revolution, would have been horrified with the conduct of such men as George Washington, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and their associates. It must not be forgotten that Jefferson and his compatriots regarded slavery as dangerous to freedom, and our history has confirmed their apprehensions. We have alw r ays had a large aristocratic force in the free States, who have had no confi- dence in the principle of freedom, and who most naturally fall in with the policy of the slaveholder, as calculated to control the masses of northern freemen. The accession of these is hailed with satisfaction by the Buchanan democracy as strengthening their ranks and their cause. The northern democratic leaders most prominent in this party are, many of them, known to be men of aristocratic leaning, (sighing that they had not been born in Virginia or some other slave state, where they could not be held accountable to the masses,) who have espoused democracy for the emoluments, and not for any love of the 10 principle. This must be obvious to any who have observe*! their evolutions since 1848. Ami it is DO new thing that the escutcheon and insignia of freedom should be boldly worn: f breaking it down. Bnt this cannot endure — slavery and de- ., i are two 1 each other; one must have the ascendancy. imary, the basis of the Buchanan democracy is, first : All the slaveholders; and, I, all the aristoa all parties in the free States; to which must be added the real democrats that will be deceived by their hah:-", and their veneration lor ameand the old usages ofthe I who will leave this aristocratic association the real object through the gauze of sophistry that still holds them in subjection to a party that is hostile to democratic freedom. Who are the democratic republican party I The men who d<-.-ire the progress of man- kind by the establishment of just, equal and rernment — who honor labor . I man— who desire to hold the gem r .1 government to its true con- stitutional duties and obligations, ami tin- un i the indivi- dual states — who have no purpose to interfei v. be in the exercise of its con- stituti<>n.il rights — who desire to maintain this Union without the loss of freedom, and v, h.> a hering from all the old political parties of the country, the sound and bv greal principles of democracy, a the American fathers of freedom. Tl ind to be mosl numeroi our raral population, habits of | rate the sophistry and mis- representation of thi . an democrat Tin its oi the two great parties that now are preparing for the canvass. The Fillmore party it is not worth while to follow, as it is merely an ingenious device of, the Blave democracy to divide the free States, and it is immaterial to freedom whether Buchanan orFilln d, they are both on tb form in regard to the great issue that now calls for the . on ofeverj lover "i bis country. To free labor, and itt honorable position in the t we thai Bpirit of enter- prise and intelligenl cultivation that has carried forward thesi es with a progress in mental, social, religous and material improvement, that is unparalleled in the history of the world, shall we now abandon the principles tl at have been the basis of our pros- perity, and which constitute our own and the world's hope of human progress J Shall we now fail to see the true issue on which our country's prosperity and happiness depends, and allow the Btealthy march of despotic power to undermine and subvert our birthright, and hand us over to 'the care of an oligarchy and its auxiliary northern aristocrats? shall it be proved that our laborers, fa hanics and merchants are incapable of exercising the functions of government, and must submit to be governed by a class calling themselves " the chivalry," a designation (applied originally to better men) ban. led down from the dark ages of civil and ecclesiastical despotism! Heaven, in infinite mercy, deliver us!! Mem dom ! let the temper of our Revolutionary Fathers arouse us, to maintain the precious boon of tired. un which they gave ! ! We have deeper wrongs than tb. y to call US to action. The laws they resisted were mild in comparison to those ipledgt to Kansas; for it isaroundtb and by piece-meal that the enemies of freedom will W ork, and 1 father the folds of despotic rule, until all is finally subdued ; and it w j'n be ■■ ' if we do not regard the fii bment on our distant fallow- citizens as an attack on ourselves. To sustain the position 1 have taken, 1 appeal to our history, and especially the last three years of it ; which no intelligent lover of freedom can tail to Bee, is puttin m imminent danger, and calling on US to put oil" all lethargy — to b uc k!. I freemen, i fch to the ballot-box, as 1 trust we shall, a host that will cheer the hearts of freemen in this land, and echo to other lands that we are determined to be free. Hampdxh. 11 FREEDOM vs. SLAVERY— DISSOLUTION OP THE UNION. [From the Evening Post, Sept. 20, 1S56.] For more than twenty years we have had reports that the Union of these States was in danger of being dissolved. At times the reports have assured us the danger was im- minent, and would certainly follow the occurrence of threatened events. "We have lived a quarter of a century through these dangers, and shall probably survive many years yet. At one time a small state of this confederacy became so impatient for dissolution as to require a check from the power of the Union. Since that time no practical result has followed the threatened danger, except what was produced on weak nerves. Men of sense have generally regarded such rumors as emanating from some selfish motive, and having strong confidence in the strength of interest and duty to control men, have not been much disturbed at the sounds of alarm we occasionally hear. At this time there appears an unusual amount of alarm, and we propose to search for the parties and the cause of our present danger. Of course, if we are guided by experience, we must look into the political world, as the danger has never come from any other quarter. The union of thirteen free and independent states into one confederacy, so organized that each state should be free to conduct its internal affairs, while the general confede- racy should exercise its protecting care over the whole, with such powers as would pro- tect from foreign aggression or domestic insurrection, combining strength for general defence, and harmony for the states, was a work of vast grandeur, promising the most beneficent results for the great experiment in free government, and should be watched over with sleepless vigilance, by ourselves and every friend of human progress. At this time, it is charged by their opponents, that the Democratic Republican party are desirous to promote a dissolution of the Union. Is there corroboration of this grave charge by any authority of this political party? The platform _ adopted by them in convention, when they made their nomination of candidates for President and Vice-Presi- dent, is unequivocally in favor of maintaining the Union, and the unrestricted integrity of the individual states. The candidates, on accepting the nomination, approved the plat- form and pledged themselves to its principles. In the numerous conventions that have been held by this party, I have seen no proposition to depart from the basis of the plat- form, as laid down by the general convention. Nor, in any way, have I been able to dis- cover authoritative expression of this party, that could justify the charge against them. In the absence of any positive proof, we must see what, if anything, there may be, to sustain the charge on inferential grounds. That the charge rests wholly on an inferen- tial basis, is believed to be beyond dispute. This is, probably, made up from an un- founded allegation, that the Republican party are abolitionists. _ An abolitionist, is one who desires the abolition of something. He may desire the abolition of slavery, or, he may desire the abolition of freedom, or it may be something else, that is obnoxious to him, and he desires that it may be abolished. In either case he is an abolitionist. In the political parlance of the present day, an abolitionist is one who desires that the authority of the general government shall be exercised to interfere with, and suppress African slavery in the slave states, without the consent of those states in which it exists by state authority. That we have some men in these states holding this opinion, there can be no doubt. Nor is there any doubt that their numbers are exceed- ingly small, as has been demonstrated by every canvass of votes that has been hitherto made. They have been able to make but very few converts from the great mass of our citizens, who do not approve of African slavery, and it is abundantly evident that no po- litical party, acting on this basis, would make appreciable progress in the free states towards obtaining political power. The sentiment, that each state has the right and the responsibility of regulating its own institutions, is one of general prevalence, and unquali- fiedly acknowledged by most men, who regard the institution of African slavery, or any other slavery, as wrong in principle and inexpedient in practice. It may be, that some abolitionists will vote for the Democratic Republican candidates, on the principle that if they cannot prevent slavery in the slave states, they will do what they can to prevent its introduction into free territory. As a political party, the abolitionists have declared against the Democratic Republican party, and made independent nominations. We are compelled, therefore, to come to the conclusion, that there exists no evidence whatever, which could lead a sensible, impartial mind to believe that the Democratic Republican party have any other view than to maintain the Union and the constitutional _ rights of every state. The charges that the Democratic Republican party are abolitionists, in the offensive political meaning of the term, is mere partizan slang, more convenient for the authors than to meet their principles in manly argument. 12 Who, then, are in favor of dissolving the Union ? The Buchanan democracy and Mr Fillmore say. it wiU I I if the Republicans are successful. If so, it must be bv "."" r ioattoc Republican. In a late number of a prominent Bu- chanan paper- (Ki.-hmond Enquirer)— it was assumed, that on the election of Mr Fre- bad to forma southern Confederacy, and the lines or bound- 180 ut hern half of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and exprcss- Dco that Pennsylvania would come into the southern confederacy Many other . the partisans of the Buchanan democracy might be quoted to show ! - ,hl < threatenii lution; but these would only be cumulative quoted is sufficiently expressive, and coming from hi-di authoritv ■ to who are the authors of the threatened dissolution. T^e Buchanan by their organs, declare, that if the Democratic Republican party on wUl be dissolved. But the Democratic Republican party win not : even authorize aueb threatening. The threatening of *J 6Bacha i ■•"""•«■ partiesmust be construed to mean, if it means anything that parties will dissolv, the Union if a majority of the electors should rote for Fremont Will th- Buchanan party insist on having the democratic name, and still threaten to breakdown » tune-honored and essential principle of democracy, that the constitutional ol And do they threaten dissolution, and the overthrow of this t, if they areleft in a minority, and cannot control it I This seems to be the plan, asset forth in the article referred to in the Richmond Enquirer, which is the only p in which the particular manner is set forth in distinct terms In roue instances the threatening and warning are set forth as a result, to follow the atic Republican party, but no particular course or manner of pro- "**"« h ;" ■ IjewheM stated. The Richmond Enquirer comes boldly to the ■ dom ol Kansas is the acknowledged trouble, and we have it now pre- sented in distinct tenia, that the essential object of the Buchanan democracy is, to dis- U that Bbould be necessary to make Kansas a slave State, this is the »«fdation of the threatening The Democratic Republican party have claimed no secrecy "" ' > declare themselves in favor of freedom in Kansas; and if they succeed to the government, they will, no ' "' U ■ d : ""' 1 "'"' r f "'- < h * unrestricted right to life, liberty and the pur- inahenable rights of men. Up, men, fur freedom! " I.e. no party Sii?lV. 00 / 0m ii hem f ,ne l? t ? UB ," M, ° ; Iet D0th "« ,tft y vuur h»od, until ourOoi r l '!, u,: r « d to the beaut; in which aur fathers left it- when the halls of to. . fh» arena •/ debate and not of the Wudyeon. Vm tembcr, 1856. Hamtdev, I 14C *>» <■» *-*0* V ^ c*^ *"V ,4 -A Q> °i " • .1 .-^ ^0^ « 4^ i*\^!« *^> c ° • « O 4T t ' , ,> V