E433, /»<=>- v^^. s- -^ C^ ' o . » • .0 vT ^ * C « O ' ^^ i*v'' *■' I' * * aO^ %. ^- -^ ^ >^ c «'"''. %. n9- ^,v^^ ^> 'W^W^ '^> ' .^^ • '"""^^^ ,-?. /, * « O* , " ' .5 V ' « £> 'ii ■ '-t*. * 'v>-r- -^ '- 4" ^ «-' y °^ • ,^ C • O ^ A • ... -vV _^? _ . .. <* COMMENTS NEBRASKA BILL, VIEWS ON SLAVERY I."? CO_A^TRAST WITH FREEDOM ; ESPECTFULLY ADDRESSED TO THE FREE STATES, BT One acquainted with Sonthern !Ds(Uut!on^» ALBANY: J, MUNSELL, 78 STATE STREET. 1854. .C.13 C O M M E N T S NEBRASKA BILL Agitation, in 1850, movetl all Washington with its threaten- ing evils, and southern politicians exertcti every faculty they possessed lo create alarm; and all, and only, because slaves could not be carried, by their masters, to the newly acquired territory from Mexico, to work side by side with freemen, denounced, by Southern members as northern negroes! In loud and angry tones, it was contended that the south was to be robbed of its rights, and would separate from the union. It did, however, happen, that California escaped the curse of slavery from polluting its soil, and withering its energies and enterprise, and the union still exists. Yet by the management of Senator Foote, as con- servative of Mississippi, and also Senator Jefferson Davis, of the same state (conservative meaning, the retaining of all old forms, usages and abuses of slavery, and acquiring as many new privi- leges as the north could be frightened into conceding; secession- ist, to withdraw from the union), these two rivals in ambition succeeded by the sympathy of other factious scnatois in creating some alarm at Washington, and, at all events, a war of big and angry words thundered in the senate. Although feeble in health, John C. Calhoun (yet possessing great influence with the south) gave additional importance to the aspect of affairs. The debates of these conscript fathers, although divested of all dignity, by their violent and intemperate 4 Comments on the JVebraska Bill. " feelings, operated upon the miiuls of the timid and undecided politicians. And Foole and his followers entered the contest with great address, evidently with a stronger desire to destroy their rivals, than in apprehending any disastrous results. Doug- lass, of Illinois, was made the unsuspecting tool of Foote, and anxious to be made a great man, and the mediator, urged the comprom'se of 1850, as forever to put at rest all slave conten- tions and agitations, and now proposes that very act to be used as the lever to entirely overthrow the Missouri compromise, and in violation of good faith, and to defraud the Indians of lands guarantied by a solemn treaty, and so opening a vast territory to peculiar institutions and speculative plunder. Foote, by far the ablest of his associates, did blow up a momentary tempest, which, acting upon the enfeebled health of Webster and Clay, these immortal men agreed to consult with Mr. Fillmore, and all three, anxious for the peace and prosperity of the union, united against the Wilmot proviso, even to favor the adoption of the fugitive slave law. And the most degrading act that stands recorded in the annals of civilization, is this peace offering of the north to the south. The dying efforts of Mr. Clay, agitated as he sincerely was, by fears of disunion, and Webster, strongly appealed to by many senators, at that eventful moment, were made to believe that the safety of the union depended upon them. Mr. Webster's speech of the 7th of March, gave victory to the south, and audacity to their views, as expressed in the Nebraska bill. And wonderful as were the etlbrts of oratory of Mr, Clay, en- tranced as were all who listened to him, they were but the rays of a settin<'^ sun after a long life of unequalled brilliancy and splendor. Believing in the sincerity of all agitation being forever put at rest, a large portion of the north, pinning their faith to this long public idol, cordially concurred, while others, more far-seeing, wept over the temporary absence of firmness, which the vote on the fugitive slave act abstracted from the glory of our country. Benton, to his lasting honor be it said, was, in the senate, the champion of freedom; and his powerful mind, like the deep- rooted oak when contending against the raging storm, visited Comments on the Kehraska Bill. with all his power, and nobly too, the effort, but too successful, to extend the abuses of slavery by the hands of freedom. It now appears, a new attempt, encouraged by the success of the last, is to be acted over again at Washington. Foote, this time, in his speeches, eulogizes Douglass, as he urges him on with the Nebraska bill, to obtain, by new alarms, new conces- sions; wliile he (Foote), in his speech to the meeting at Stuyve- sant Institute, tells us that the press of the union is bribed, and every one knows it; and the old story — of the higher law sena- tor, and freesoilers, and abolitionists, and the agitators — is raked up, to prepare the public mind to give sanction to a new con- cession of slavery — blessings — this time, so bountiful, as to cover the entire republic! In opposing the Nebraska bill, all free states that look to their prosperity, are profoundly interested in its defeat. All freemen are deeply interested in opposing slavery from commingling with and corrupting the moral ties of life. And every man who loves his country, who honors freedom, must now, in firm and decided tones, stop all attempts of establishing slavery or its principles, on free territory — by free territory, we mean all the public lands of this union — and cover, with well merited exe- cration, the author of so base and daring a scheme to ruin our great republic. Illinois owes nothing to the south, for the grant of the public domain. All the agents employed in that railroad enterprise, have. been, no doubt, more than amply repaid, and will gild over the disgrace which is doomed to blight the senator's too bold ant! soaring ambition. iEsop's fable of the eagle and the crow, is an apt illustration of this attempt at power; and the disappointed, would-be presi- dent, will yet be the derision and sport of the community of freemen. He has entangled his claws in the wool, and his at- tempts at chattering and Hying, will replace him where he should be, to reflect on the folly of small men atf' mptinj;, wlcU power- ful men would be unable to accomplish. The great west, filliog up rapidly with a free population of Europe, escaping the op- 6 Comments on the JVehraska Bill. pression of the tyrranny of wealth in their own country, can not desire to see the nabob planter, with his negro laws, like can- cers, spreading over the body politic, and degrading free labor, already presumptuously called " white negroes." If the sonth have the desire to separate, they can do so; we had better say, go, than be v/rangling year after year, about guaranteed rights, which we propose here to examine into. If they wish to separate, we shall cease to be their negro-catchers. If they wish to remain, they must understand that their chivalry must respect treaties, and the action of government must be upon equitable principles. It has been truly said by an English writer, that " half a century of freedom within the circuit of a few miles of rock, brings to perfection more of the greatest qualities of our nature, displays more fully the capacities of men, exhibits more examples of heroism and magnanimity, and unites more of the dim light of poetry and philosophy, than thousands of years, and millions of people collected in the greatest empire, under the eclipse of despotism. Why should we then wish to retard the progress of our growing country, by extending over its fertile lands, a system which degrades man, and blights his ener- gies, merely to favor a few rich negro owners, already occupying an immense portion of the union. A very sensible article, and one much to the point, is published in the Albany Morning Express, of 13th February, whose able editor wastes no words in long argument, but evinces a sound, shrewd, well-directed and comprehensive view of the Nebraska question. We copy it: " The territory of Louisiana was first occupied by the French, including, by claim at least, all west of the Mississippi river; it was then ceded to Spain. During Washington's administration, in 1795, we entered into treaty with Spain, for a place of deposit and export in New Orleans. In October, 1802, the treaty was terminated, and we were informed that the territory had been receded to France. Subsequently, as everybody knows, the territory was purchased by the United States, of the Emperor Napoleon, for the sum of fifteen millions of dollars. The pur Comments on the JYebraska Bill. 7 chase was efre(ted by Mr. Jefl't rson — aiul a spUTidiil bargain it was, too. Tliere were in the territory, at the time of the pur- chase, about fifty thousand people of European discont, and forty thousand skives. Some of our wise invn at Washington insist that a law of slavery existed in the country at the time we ac- quired, which has never been repealed, and which could not be repealed without the violation of the treaty of session. But this is mere assertion, worth absolutely nothing, uidess the treaty itself is produced and the pretended law. "But, suppose the territory did come to us with and under a ]aw of slavery, can we never repeal the existing law of a pur- chased territory? The idea is absurd. The act of congress known as the Missouri Compromise, is superior to all previous laws existing in the territory. Nebraska was a portion of the Louisiana purchase. The president, Munroe, and his cabinet, and both houses of congress in 1820, were, as we think, nearly as wise men as Senator Douglas, and even all his colleagues of the senate. We respect Gen. Cass very highly, but we can not allow his opinion greater weight than that which rests on the side of the validity of the Missouri Compromise act." It would be indeed a singular case, if, after paying fifteen millions of dollars to France for Louisiana, then inhabited by about 90,000 people— 50,000 white and 40,000 colored— we should not be permitted, in our legislation over our thus acquired territory, to exercise a right which France had, and yet exercises over all her colonies. And did she not lately emancipate all the negroes of Martinique and Guadaloupe, on the broad ground of their being human beings, and entitled equally to the enjoyment of the same rights and privileges of their pretended owners, and for which she allowed nothing by way of compensation. How absurd, then, an abstraction for statesmen at W'ashing- ton to advance the opinion that the United States has not the right, in granting away its public domain — purchased domain— to stipulate the terms of its tenure. We have states to form, to meet the wants of the most unprecedented emigration in the annals of history, and the people who own this vast domain yet 8 Comments on the JWbraska Bill. unoccupied, are told by their representatives — "you have no light to stipulate laws over national property." How absurd! We can give away lands for the promotion of any particular object, and subject to restrictionsj but territories we have no right to control, or to say, as we admit them to be states, *' you shall be free states or slav^e states." Foreigners and our own citizens thus settle the national domain, and rise above and superior to its laws. Political integrity is rare, demagogues are many, and their political animosities are violent, and, unfortunately, their virtues are mostly of a selfish character. Well, even if we have no right to make any stipulations for states as territories, we have a right to shut out slavery from treading the soil. We may le- gislate upon every thing, pretiy much, unless such legislation has the slightest, the most remote influence upon the " peculiar institution of slavery." This, we are told, is sacred — not to be interfered with. The treaties of the most sacred, solemn char- acter, we may violate; but slavery, alas, which was not permit- ted to figure in our constitution, " because holding property in man was not just," we arc nov?' told, was the guarantee of our confederation. The ex-senator Foote came to New-York, on his way to Cali- fornia, to warn his northern friends that the president was false, that the public press was bought up, and the thought of fac- tionists daring to agitate a repeal of the compromise of 1850, was, he confessed, monstrum horrendum! This compromise, let it be understood, Douglass contends, an- nuls the Missouri compromise. It is somesVhat surprising that the ex-senator, with his love of the poets, had not indulged in some tender effusion of poetry to proclaim, the mercy of slavery Perhaps, had Hale or Seward been there, he might have repeat- ed some of the oft-indulged, and always amusing effusions hurl- ed against these senators. But ex-senator Foote might, had he chosen, have told his northern hearers that the words slave and slavery were stricken out of the constitution by such an aboli- tionist as James Madison, because he would never consent to aC' Comments on the JVebraska Bill. 9 knowledge property in man. This declaration of one of our most admired and illustrious stati'smcii — diSLTvcdly honored ami popular — was the expression of a democratic president, long be- fore Softs or Hard Shells were words used to denote the charac- ter of men or political parties. The French government long before \\\\s, or Seward was lorn, contended that "law, to be law, must be invested with authority i^reater than the subject whose obedience it challenges; other- wise law is only another name for injustice, and that morality which has not the authority of God as its basis, is without foun- dation." Slavery, therefore, being in opposition to'God's will, as repeated by our Savior, to "do unto others as you would be done by," has no moral foundation. For unquestionably no man in his sound senses would wish to be a slave. Now then, as the south thinks proper to come from the banks of the Mississip- pi, to instruct us in the north, as to what we are expected to do regarding their peculiair slave institutions, we regret that so shadowy a picture shoulil have been drawn by the cx-scnator, and, though an excitable little man, we have no doubt he has a large bump of benevolence to his slaves, although combative- ness has its mark close by. If southern gentlemen will come among us and make speeches to us on their favorite institutions, they must excuse us if we presUme to agitate for ourselves, on our own soil, and to even exult in our own institutions of free- dom. To do so will be the object of this article. To the word negro great opprobrium is attempted to be affixed, yet the river Nigris is much like the Mississippi, about as muddy, and having just about as many alligators swimming in its waters, and gives its name to the inhabitants as does the ]Mississippi, and, if we.are to believe Mungo Park and other writers, Africa affords many instances of educated individuals, modest and humane, al- though bowie knives and jiistols are not in vogue, yet coffee abundant and of excellent quality. The song written by a negro woman, in IMungo l^ark's presence, and who sheltered him and his companions during a long storm, is exquisitely beautil'ul and 10 Comments on the JSebraska Bill. touching. The ex-senator is less friendly to f'ree-soilers and abo- litionists than to slaves. Such prejudices are as natural as tyran- ny against freedom. The northern abolitionist we will leave to the tender mercies of ex-senator Foote, and confine our remarks to " the peculiar institutions." The feeling against abolitionists is not confined to ex-senator Foote. John C. Calhoun, like ex-senator Foote, was an agree- able and kind-hearted man in all the private and social relations of life, yet his political feelings were so influenced by his dog- mas on slavery, that his opinions, like the shooting stars of heaven, were ever wandering from their orb to be lost in error. He, too, keenly disliked abolitionists and free-soileis, as well as all other Christians who opposed his peculiar institutions. Mr. Calhoun has told us that the relations of master and man have ever existed — existed beyond known time — and that ne- groes were bought and sold in the United States before any en- actment made them slaves; and he doubted whether there was a state in the Union ever passed a law on the subject. This opinion confounds master and man with master and slave, yet in the confession do we not see the history of slavery clearly de- fined? The African slave trade does not run back to unknown ages; it is of a more recent date, and confined to the American continent. Our great trade was principally under the reio-n of Queen Elizabeth. It is now about forty -six years since the law of congress abolished the slave trade on the ocean, and mark the then strong existing feelings of horror, when the penalty was death to all directly or indirectly engaged in the traffic. Very few of the slaves imported prior to 180S are now livino-* if any, inefficient. The great increase are born in these United States, the land of liberty; and by our declaration all men free and equal. Slavery, from its very first existence, was a thino- of oppression; a cold-blooded and abominable stealing of human beings — the violation of all international law — the tempt ings of avarice to overlook humanity — the act of the ruffian, seizino- upon his prey in a comparativly benighted land, and then to transport him, fettered and chained, during a long and loathsome Comments on the Jfehraska Bill. 11 voyage, to sell hiin, guilty of no criuu-, the wretched, ever changing slave, with his children and their issue from generation to generation, sold as arc the cattle of the field. And well nii'^^ht we borrow and use the quotation of the ex-senator Foole, "y/or- rcndum monstrum.^^ Education is a blessing which can not too highly be apprecia- ted. It elevates the character of man, and, as the entire world must eventually be governed by the truths of the new testament, it is the foundation, the unerring star of all our hopes. Yet such is the inhuman character of slavery, that he who educates a negro is fined and imprisoned, and this blessing thus denied to slavery. The slave owner controls the body of his negro, and to his soul forbids the readings for which our Savior came on earth to bless mankind, and the beautiful precepts of that sacred volume, which every child shouUi be taught, as the most important study of life, is, from the want of instruction, unknown to the negro. And this is one of the benefits of a Nebraska bill. We see the benign effect of the instruction imparted in China, by a few missionaries, overturning the idolatry of a government which has ruled for ages in religious ignorance, and now its pagan altars falling before the truths of the new testament. The Ma- homedan, struggling for his national rights, fighting side by side of the Christian, and on his crescent banner is seen " the cross," to innoculate faith with unbeliefj the islands of the Pacific and all India are instructed in its consoling doctrines; the same bless- ings are carried to Africa, and in the United States the neo^roes are cursed by a slavery which forbids instruction, and thereby, to the great mass, the precepts of their salvation unknown to them. In Virginia, a respectable female and her daughter, are imprisoned for teaching at a Sunday school to little black child- ren, while in Alabama a negro is burnt at the stake, and in the writhings of pain he draws out the rivets that confined him, he is shot down — and all such acts without law to appeal to; and such privileges are required to be carried oat by the Nebraska biU. 12 Comments on the JYehraska Bill. An attempt is now made to nullify the Missouri compromise, and, if the movers in the nefarious undertaking think that their iniquitous scheme is to be tamely and quietly submitted to, sad indeed to them will be their mistake. If the compromise of 1850 was carried out, it was only because all future agitation was to cease; and thus did public opinion yield to it? Had, however, such details as the following then been published, no fugitive slave law would have disgraced our legislative hall, and who, that has a heart to feel, will not be moved with indignation to read of such deeds in our sbould-be-free America? We can not claim to be a model government. We must get rid of such "peculiar" acts, yes, before we can claim to be even just or merciful. Not long since we read of Epps compelling, by threats and promises, his negro to unite in the murder of an innocent man, to avoid paying a debt. Now, again, is a yet more brutal act. We extract it: " Horrible AIurder of a Slave — Beastly Cruelty. — Peters- burgh, Nov. 16. — Thomas Motley has been convicted at Alter- borough, S. C, for the murder of a runaway slave. It was proved on the trial, that the inhuman monster first shot and then whipped the slave. After which he put him in a vice, and tortured him. He then set him loose, started bloodhounds after him, who ran him down, mangling him horribly, and then, as a consummation of his fiendish purposes, he cut up the body of the slave, and fed the flesh to his dogs." The Charleston papers generally rejoice at the conviction of this fiend in human shape. The Pittsburgh Express, to which journal we are indebted for the above fact, understands that the negro was most cruelly whipped and beaten — one of his eyes having been knocked entirely cut. The Charleston papers, it seems, generally rejoiced at (he con- viction of the fiend in human shape. True, we are told that the Charleston papers condemned the dted; what else could a city of its intelligence, or editors of humanity, fail to do? Comments on the JWbraska Dill. 13 But we ask, slmiild such a st;ile of things, l)y any po.ssihilitv, exist — that a human being may be beaten, hunted down, tor- turetl, murdered, his flesh cast to the dogs, and yet not dare to raise his hand in his own defence, for fear of being burnt at the stake? The law allows no self-defence to a negro; and, should an entire plantation, one or two thousand of his own color, have witnessed the act, not one could legally testify against tiie mur- derer, or arrest him, unless " trampling upon peculiar laws," to receive, for so doing, additional " peculiar vengeance." Had this poor, tortured slave, pursued by his bloodhounds, been stjong and fleet enough to have escaped, and he had fled to, anil had reached a free state, and, showing his lost eye, his lace- rated and bleeding back, with his quivering flesh torn from his limbs, and have asked charily, the fugitive law, " that assertive of those great truths that lie at the foundation " of American liberty (to use the language of Senator Foote, when speaking of the South), would denounce the benevolence of handing a morsel of bread and a few dollars to the slave, and saying to him, " Fly on, poor negro. Mercy has no impulse for you. The liberty of this union is linked with slave inhumanity. The congress of the United States has passed a law, allowing ten dollars more for your condemnation than foryour acquittal. Hasten onto Canada; when you reach her land, the flag of England will make you free; all colors there are safe; chains, and manacles, and shuckels will no more trouble you." The same law that governs the highest nobleman will be yours. Yet, just such advice, and prompted by feelings of piety and Christianity, guided by our Savior's command, would be here acted upon, of" do unto others as ye would be done by"; but, condemned by a lower jaw! Gov. Seward's higher law was but re-echoing the sentiments of the pious and eloquent Bishop Gregoire, in his defence of the revolution of San Doraingo. And the day is not veiy remote, when union of action among the slaves of the United States, will propound to their masters the questions, by what right am I a slave? What sin have I com- mitted, to merit such a destiny? What international law justifies 14 Comments on the JVebraska Bill. a man's being dragged from his family, by pirates, chained, for months, and conveyed to a loathsome ship, and to another coun- try, to be sold? And what better right, they will ask, has he who purchased man so stolen, to hold him in bondage — in closely confined captivity, " There to mourn misfortune's rudest shock !" What other feelings than smothered revenge, can harbor in the bosom of the involuntary laborer? Whatever worldly things we become possessed of, if practicable in their nature, are at once claimed by the least shadow of title as legalized property, and though wrongly acquired, are seldom voluntarily relinquished. Their means of possession are lost sight of in our prayers. We repeat the comnaandment, " Thou shalt not steal," and as the offensive pill that is gilded over to hide its character, we so swallow the theft, to make it an apparent virtue. For daring to intimate cruelties less attrocious than we have referred to — yes, for simply intimating such deeds as the curse of slavery entail, what have not been the denunciations against the talented authoress of Uncle Tom. Yet what a privilege is hers, to be applauded by ages to come, as the advocate of an oppressed people and ill-used race. Mrs. Stowe will be cherished for her emanations of virtue and truth, when civilization will spurn with indignation, such rantings as uttered by Senator Foote. The sentiments conveyed by Uncle Tom, fall upon the heart as the warm rain of spring upon the earth; they cause compassion to start into new life, and although, by the seed which laid waiting the moisture of heaven, to germinate into the beautiful flower, weeds may shoot up; so by the side of humanity may be heard the breathings of inhumanity; for it is the nature of the many, to ridicule all sympathy. But, if pro- gress is the watchword of the times, Mrs. Stowe has launched her chariot with eclat, and, as that of the goddess of morn, will continue to shed a soothing light of mercy. We are changing; w^e have changed. The eyes of prejudice are unveiled, and many see who before saw not, and hear where they heard not; Comments on the JVcbraska Bill. 15 reason at last begins to exercise her Avonttd power, anil good must from day to day disjilay its happiest results. Already, this interesting work has penetrated into tlie par- lors of fashion, as a missionary of truth, feelingly and elo- quently telling of things ^vhich those who move in the gay and luxurious pleasures of life, votaries to the selfish world, and hitherto biassed by the reviews of enlisted mercenaries, paid to misrepresent the negro character, are now made sensible of their wrongs. Humanity therefore awakes, and startles with horror, as she uplifts the before controlled and imprisoned im- pulses of nature, and the parent and the child, and even the stern man of society, weep together, as they run over the, alas! but too truthful pages, pointing out the daily occurrences of slavery. With pride, every mother recalls the history of Cor- nelia of the Gracci, and remembers with thrilling delight, when she was asked, by worthless vanity, where are your jewels, she pointed to her children, which with labor and pain she had given birth to, and with virtue and all the attributes of benevolence, she was rearing, to become the brightest ornaments of society. In classic lore, we find nothing more delightful than this ma- ternal elevation of soul. In those days, women were contented to be women, and not the wearers of pantaloons; and even in these go-a-head times they look far more fascinating with a sweet boquet of flowers, their own sweet emblem, than with cudgels in hand, the knock-down arguments of savage man. But in recalling to recollection the Roman matron, what can we imagine, more entitled to admiration, than Eliza, the submissive and devoted, almost white, slave, of the Uncle Tom. Submissive, with innate fidelity and love, to her mistress, yet when she disco- vered that her master was chaffering for the sale of her little child of affection, her only boy, all the tenderness and meekness of nature assumed a Christian character, resolute and fearless in well-doing, and, rather than see her child handed over to the brutal negro dealer, she resolved at once to rescue him, "Feelina: that 'twas no crime to love too well, To bear too tender or too firm a heart, To act a feeling, and a mother's part. 16 Comments on the J\'ebraska Bill. And this young slave, contented, when devoting herself to a kind mistress, resolved to save her child. And where is that being who could not follow, with a throbbing bosom, this victim of oppression, as she hastened to a goal of liberty, leaping over the floating ice, as pursued by the wretches who stop at the danger, not daring to follow her, yet brooding] over the antici- pated gains of transferring innocence to the slave market of prostitution. And, to aid such a flying object of pity, guilty of no crime but the love of liberty, the fugitive slave law would denounce, to use the ex-senator's figure, "//o^Tcndwm monslrumf Putting aside the evil of slavery itself, what can be imagined more disastrous than slavery in free states? The honored son of an industrious farmer, who has not the means to own slaves to gratify indolence, finds himself the neighbor of a large negro nabob. His pride forbids his working side by side with slaves, otherwise he degrades his own high prerogative of a freeman. He soon becomes idle, and, sooner than he anticipates, he loses the cast in which freedom glorifies man. Look to the southern pine vroods; can the most fertile fancy picture a class of men more debased? They literally vegetate, they do not live to reach nor dare they aspire to any post of honor — are looked upon by the richer planter as an inferior race. Then, again, it can not be possible that Germans, and Swiss, and Italians, English, Dutch, and all the free people of Europe, coming to our shores, them- selves escaping from oppression, can wish to entail slavery upon others. Forbid the thought! Two hundred and fifty thousand men owning four millions of fellow men, on whose offspring the joys of liberty are never expected or intended, if in their mas- ter's power, to shed one ray of freedom — are they to control this universe? Senator Gwin, of California, is for giving a free, untrara- meled range to slavery. If so, a bolder insult can not be offer- ed to California. His constituents all laboring freemen, and by whose voices he is honored as a senator! Rich himself, a large slave owner, would he wish to put his negroes with his overseer as the companions of freemen? To work at the mines and at the diggins with free labor? If such should be the case, Comments on the J^ebraska Bill. 17 we could only say, iiow quickly man clotlud in a little Lrit-/ power, forgets all others lor hiaisell". Such are the movements made by slave owners. The object ot" all governments should be to promote the pros- perity of the great mass of society, and not to introduce, into free states, principles to degrade its inhabitants by institutions at variance with the noblest sympathies of the age. The dark and hideous features of moral depravity should be curtailed, not spread. We live for reforms where reforms are needed, and purer and brighter should be the mantle of justice that we place over our states. - As may be shown, the slave states have been unfortunately extended by too many and easy concessions, and now we see the evil of what has been done; and if it can not be eradicated at once, it should, at least be prevented from growing larger. Sooner or later it must be. When Gen. Cass was the defeated candidate for the presidency, his idea of being a northern man with southern principles, caused his defeat. Politicians may try to blow hot and cold with the same breath, hoping not to otfend the philanthropy of the day, but it will not answer; the people, now, as in the days of JEsop with the satyr and the traveler, will not believe in the same thing producing two contrary etfects. Humanity, at all events, can not be thus defended, nor hypocrisy resorted to, without exciting the indignation of an intelligent and reflecting community. Those who adopt the maxim of Hudibras, " That he who fights and runs away, May live to fight another day," are a class of warriors w^e need not in the ranks of the warfare of freedom. The many estimable traits in the character of Gen. Cass, for the presidency, his acknowledged talents and his gal- lantry as a soldier, his opponents could not assail, with any suc- cess; but his being accused of yielding the noble feelings of philanthropy to southern exactions, will no longer, in the north, add to his fame or his influence, if advocated. The day has come when things must be known and supported by their real and proper names. The lights and shadows of life 2 18 Comments on (he JVebraska BllL nre so difTerent thai no statesman can mistake them. Even in that part of our country where slavery darkens the face of na- ture, and miscalculating selfishness encourages ignorance, the race of the family of the negro is looked to, by the purchaser, as the sportsman of the turf looks to the sire of the horse he purchases. And why should not the people of the free states look to the deeds of those leaders who have no sires in their pedi- gree of distinction, always dangerous on trial; and, alas, but too many of such are brought to the legislature, and to congress, whose qualities are found wanting and are ever bolting, worth- less, unreliable animals, on whom no faith can be placed. When we take up men without political honor, we must expect to be duped, and we should clearly canvass the worth of those we elevate before we raise them to the position in which they may do harm. In 1848, all must remember how eloquently were de- scribed the evils of slavery, and the necessity of reform. But some of these slippery politicians have outstripped, in their po- litical gastronomic qualities, the avaricious anaconda, by swal- lowing the entire Baltimore platform, slavery and all, and would no doubt have done a little more if any positive reward had been secured to them, on the ladder, worthy of their desertion. Such politicians disgrace the cause they defend; they sully the purity and justice of the principles they sport with. Their motives being selfishness, they twist and turn, displaying, as the chameleon, ever-changing hues to the new lights they appear in, and yet, strange as it is true, such is the infatuation of mankind, that a flash of wit runs away with reason, and political harle- quins transfer themselves, with unequaled assurance, on every new platform on which their changing tricks are exhibited. How- ever, but one feeling can govern the honest indignation which such conduct gives rise to, and in the end justice triumphs. The contest now is narrowed down to freedom or no freedom, humanity or no humanity; to justice or injustice, principle or no principle. All heretofore expressing an opinion unfavor- able to slavery, were at once denounced as abolitionists, and how- ever modest their opinions, the threadbare accusation "to disturb Comments on the jXthrasfia Bill. 19 tlie soutli," was raised against them. To a certain extent the accusation was true, but only so, because the evils of slavery- are tiark displays of the same thing; nothing bright orchizzling belongs to it, no cheering ray of variety is seen in it, and the inhabitants of all civilization view it with abhorrence, as op- pressive anil dfuioraiizing. To the master spirit of all inifiuily — the devil — we altaeh the same horrors. These are all imagi- nation — fancy colors of torments. But slavery is a thing of earthly existence, ami elicits the same unvarying disgust, present- ed in whatever form it is seen. Our ever venerated, loviil and immortal lather of the country, strong'y expressed liis feelings against the injustice of slavery; and on the page of history, this sentiment will adorn his illustrious and glorious memory. The same feelings warmed the hearts of all the statesmen of the revolution, Madison, .Jeflnson, i atrick Henry, all the viitue and talent of the south, entertained, with sincere belief, the conviction tiiat all tiie states Av;'re to pass laws to emancipate the .slaves. It was a general understandin