The national era. [volume], February 07, 1850, Page 22, Image 2

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1 the people whom it proposes to aid in behalf of
} liberty in monarchical Europe, hut it will be for
an amelioration of the laws of naturalization, so
as to give a vote to any tuau of any country on
his becoming permanently domiciled among us.
There, sir, is where they will find tne, and they
. will find that to that extent these sentiments of
humanity, these expres-sions of our sympathy for
our brethem from distant lands, are enjoined upon
us as duties by the law of our Maker. It is my
purpose, sir. to labor to bring about that equality
in the land in which we lire, and, so fur as may be,
in all other lands.
" Aoting upon this broad principle, sir, I hare
no hesitation in saying that there is no distinction
in my respect or affection towards men of this
or any other land?of a higher or a lower class?
of one race or another?of one color or another.
1 regard them all alike, as respects social distinc.
tiona?the institutions of Government, or the
opinions of society, not affecting in my mind their
individual personal merit. If the Senator from
Georgia really feels the sympathy for free negroes
which I am rejoiced to hear him proclaim, let him
bring in his bill for their relief, and I pledge myself
that the first aye in its favor?if none be given
before my name is reached in the alphabet?
"will be mine. If bis sympathies embrace a class
which need them still more, let him bring in his
bill for the emancipation and amelioration of the
oondition of the slave in any District or Territory,
or show me how I cm vote for it in bis own
State effectively, and my vote shall be given for it
with more gladness and joy than it has ever been
given upon any occasion in my whole life. Sir,
neither here nor elsewhere do I admit that any
rule of Government or form of society authorizes
a distinction to be made in our treatment of men;
for I hold to the sublime sentiment announced in
our Declaration of Independence, ' that all men
were created equaland I can truly say that my
first vote to keep any man inacondition ofdegradation
has yet to be given, and that vote never will he
?ven in this place. 1 have > ffered these remarks,
T.President/bee uise 1 tiruvghtic necessary to vindicate
the proposition which I have made to the
Senate from the assaults which it has nut in its indirect
appearance before this body on this occasion
; and when that proposition is brought before
the Senate in its proper form, and the Senate shall
be ready to give it a due consideration, I shall
take pleasure in stating the reisons that have induced
me to briDg it forward."
Mr. Walker of Wisconsin claimed that he
had taken the first step in these movements in
the Senate, and called attention to his bill, providing
for a cession of the public lands to the
several States in which they lie.
u The proposition which I have submitted to
the Senate is to vest the public lands of the United
States in the States respectively, upon the condition,
first, that the Legislatures of the States shall
provide by law that the laud shall be conveyed to
actual settlers or occupants only iu such ^uauti
ita iu me oiaies scan seem proper, nui exceeuing
160 acres. And, secondly, that the land shall
not be transferred or alienated by the individual i
to whom it may be conveyed by the State, to any
other person, who thereby might become the owner
?f mrvre than is oonteDi^itel to Jje granted tOf(
anyone individual. And, thirdly, th'tt xne' land '
ehall be forever exempt from forced s?le or levy
upon execution, or tbe decree of a court of equity.
A further provision is, that when these stipulations
shall be male by the States, the President
of the United States, when officially notified of it,
shall cause copies of all the maps, deeds, records, I
and papers, affecting those transfers, to be made
out and transmitted to the marshal of the State i
in which the land lies, whose duty it shall be to j
deliver them to the Executive of the State, upou
payment by the person to whom the grunt is
made, of the cost of such transcription and transmission
to the Government, After this has been
done, upon these limitations, the land shull vest
in the person to whom it is granted, for the purposes
contemplated by the act."
The resolution of General Houston was ordered
to be printed, and the Senate, after the transaction
of some unimportant business, adjourned. |
For the National Kra.
FREE SUFFRAGE IN NEW YORK.
In the Notional Em of January 10th, I noticed
u comunication, signed ''J. W. S purporting to
correct certain errors of yours in relation to the
Democratic party in the State of New York, and
which was allowed to go forth without a single cor
recrion or remark irotn you.
Now, sir, you very well know the position of
both the old parties of this State; and we have
ever been pleased to see with what fidelity you
point out their follies and abuses, and this not in a
firit nt wivonii ?u<1 ridicule, wnicn is so peculiar
to editors of political journals, but in a true and
sincere manner, which jnust convince the understanding
of men.
"J. W. S." would upbraid the Whig party of
this State because of their professions of sympathy
towards the unfortunate and weak ; and truly
the Whig party may boast but little, very little
Still it cannot be denied them the fact, that as respecting
the rights of our colored citircns they
have ever been the first of the two parties, both
to advocate and support those rights ; and your
correspondent must have heen illy acquainted
with tho politie d history of his own State, to have
made statement:*bus blindly ignorant.
The $250 real estate qualification of 1S2I is put
down as nn avowedly " Democratic measure/'
True that party had aometliing to do in imposing
this test of citizenship, being or they were at this
time "in the ascendency but does not " J. W.S.''
Know mat me reuerai party or mat time took
larger and broader grounds on thin subject thnn
did the Democratic? For when Mr. Sanford,
(a Democrat.) from the committee on sulFrage
reported that every nhiir male citizen of the age
of twenty-one yearn. &c . should be allowed to vote
for all the offices elected by the people, Mr. Peter
A. Jay, (i Federal.) before the subject of property
qualification was Agitated, moved to strike out
the word "white," which would extend the same
privil*ae* o/wtUy to colored as to white citizens,
and supported the motion by an nhle speech, worthy
the subject and the man. Mr Jay could not
believe that the God who made all the nations of
the earth of one blood, had created one race for
degradation ; and justly adds, with the old maxim,
"that the hour which mnke? n man a slave robs
him of half his worth "?lLivimomFs Political History
of Nnr York. The motion was supported by
the Federal members generally, and finally prevailed
in committee of the whole by a vote of 63
to 59. Does this look like "openly opposing"
the rights of colored citizens?
But afterwards a select committee of 13, with a
leading Democrat as chairman, (no other than
Col. Young, who had all along opposed the motion
of Mr. Jay,) to whom the proceedings on elective
franchise was referred, reported a proviso which
excluded all colored men from voting, who were
not possessed of two hundred and fifty dollars in
freehold, above all claims and liabilities. This
proviso, unexpected as it was, greatly astonished
the Federals, who had supposed the matter put to
rest, and was ably contested by their leading men
in the Convention, but it was supported by Col.
Yonncr f?en. Root .and the Democratic side of the
. v-..r, -----7 ? ? - ?
Convention, aud at the last carried by a vote of 71
to 33?making it truly a " Democratic measure; "
and to thfvt be the shame.
Now, relative to the popular vote which decided
the question of equal suffrage under our late
" new Constitution," we c innot doubt that leaving
any such great measures to be decided In this
manner is not a fair way of trying their merits,
for had the people themselves, and not through
their representatives, decided with reference to
the Erie canal, the pride and boast of our internal
improvements, it would have been cast aside as a
scheme impracticable and ruinous. 80 with suffrage,
had our Delegates in Convention incorporated
this section with the rest, and the vote been
for the Constitution as a whole, our colored citizens
would not have been foreigners at home, and
serfs in a land of freedom. Hut it does appear
expressly intended that this section for Equal
Suffrage, separated as it was from the rest, should
be defeated, and the Delegates not held responsible
for the result; but this was a ' Democratic
measure,'' that party having the ascendency.
We know not who is responsible for the defeat
of this noble measure, but we do hope that Whigs
and Democrats will "claim" to be the friends of
all unfortunate b- until man shall no longer
hold his fellow man a slave, and Oppression and
Slavery be known only as wrongs of the post.
F.
For th? National Kra.
VOTE ON MR. ROOT'S RESOLUTION.
To the. Editor of the National Era :
Some of our Whigs, hereabouts, are a good
deal puzzled to account for the vote on Mr.
Root's resolution touching the "Proviso." When
asked to acoount for it, they are confounded. In
all the trials for Speaker, the House was generally
well attended, but when the " Proviso " question
is mooted by a good Eree-Soiler like Mr.
Root, we find thirty members absent. Mr. Freedlej,
the member from our oounty, is among the
missing. I am very sorry for this, for I voted for
him under the impression that he would do his
duty on the great question. A short time before
the election, he published an address to the people,
declaring his firm resolution to vote for the " Wllmot
Proviso" if he should be elected. I have
heard two respectable Whigs Bay, if their member
disappoints them on this great question of
Slavery Extension, they will give up all faith in
" politicians " F
Montgomery County, Pit., Juna" y 16, IfftO.
* ...
TH!
THE NATIONAL E>A.
WASHINGTON, FEBRUARY 7, 18.*>0.
Maky Irvino has a poem on our first page, that
will be read.
Nkw York and thr Territorial Question."
1 he article on our fourth page, under this head,
should have been credited to the Albany Alias.
THE HILL RELATING TO FUGITIVES FROM
SERVICE OR LABOR.
Men resist oppression, or seek to escape from
it, bi'cavse th>y art m??, endowed with a sense of
personal, iualienable rights, an inextinguishable
love of liberty, and the capacity to enjoy it.
That the victim of slavery should flee from it?
horrors, is no new thing; and that the fugitive
should find sympathy among those not interested
in perpetuating his enslavement, can excite no
surprise among those who understand the instincts
and laws of human nature, lly the Mosaic
code, this sympathy found a sanction for its
manifestations in the law which protected the
fugitive servant from beiug seixed by his master
and secured to him tho protection and hospitalillna
f.f tVia /tAmmiinUo in whirl) he h.lti tnWll
refuge. The modern Law of Nations. regarding
slavery as h municipal, h merely local institution
does not bind one State to surrender fugitive
slaves from other States. At times, convention*
or treatiesof extradition hare been m?de between
neighboring Powers, in disregard of the Jkcain
of humanity, in obedience to reieon* of Stat*
policy, A friend his hmded us the i vw ag
translation of an article iu a treaty jt pwnc*.
entered into in the year SHf?. between Leoo
Alexandre V Constautine. Greek Km reeve a:
Constantinople, and Oleg Regent of Igvr sewn-i
king of Russia, on the revision of the iSrst isv*.
sion of the Greek Kinpire by the R iwatiA. uaier
Oleg
" If a Russian si .re take flight, or eren if he is
carried away by any one under pr teeo* of having
been bought, his master shall hare the right and j
power to pursue him. and hunt for and capture
him. whereTcr he shall be found : and any perwon
who shall oppose the mister in the execution of
this right, shall be deemed guilty of violating this
treaty, and be punished accordingly."
On occasion of a second invasion of the Greek
Empire by the Ru-sians. another treaty was
i formed, in yb'>, in which it was stipulated as fol- (
lows :
' If any slave shall Hy from Russia into Greece,
or .-"jail escape from the Russian merchants residing
at Constantinople, the Russian master shall '
hare the right to pursue him, and to hunt for and
W1,wt ?r.liiui t and if be*iiw?><it.be found..,4te,maater
shall make oath that his slave has esc iped, in which
case, the Greeks shall pay the said master, according
to former treaties, two pieces of cloth for every
slave thus escaping into Greece , and if a Greek 1
slave escape into Russia, in the possession of stolen
property, and cannot be found by bis master, it J .
shall be the duty of the Russians to deliver up |
said slave, together with the property which he
shall have stolen, whereupon the master Bhall pay
to the person so delivering up said slave two
pieces of gold, by way of reward."
Of course, the execution of the duty thus
imposed, and the manner of executing it, were
left to the parties severally contracting. There
was no common tribunal for the adjudication of
such cases.
It is remarkable, that after the lapse of
nearly nine centuries, we find a barbarous
j stipulation between two barbarous nations reproI
duced in the compact of union of the most
civilized and humane republic of the nineteenth
; century We are familiar with the provision
| referred to:
" No person held to labor or service in one
Stale, under the luws thereof, escaping into an|
other, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation
therein, be discharged from such service or
j labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the
party to whom such service or labor may be due."
The language of this clause of the Constitution,
like the phraseology of the articles above quoted,
?U..? .f ? at i rill 1 u tinn IVn )>>> -?? >? !
upon Congress by the lauguage of the clause exproesly,
and we have never bent able to see bow
it could be fairly implied. It bears the aspect of
a stipulation between the States, and it would
seem as if it were left for the States severally to
provide measures for cirrying it into effect.
Such, if we recollect aright, was the decision of
Chief Justice Shaw of Massachusetts, some years
ago, and such was the opinion of many eminent
jurists, until the decision of the Supreme Court
in the case of Prigg That decision set aside, and
denied the right of, all State legislation on the
subject, asserted the exclusive power of Congress
to provide means tor executing tne provision, niu
asserted, loo, the right of the master to seize his
slave wherever he might be found, and bear him
back to the State whence he had escaped, without
process of law.
The free States, finding their right to act on
the subject denied by the highest tribunal of the
country, discontinued all such action. Some of
them, in view of the decision of the court, that
Congress could impose no duty on State officers
in relation to the matter, passed laws forbidding
their magistrates and ministerial officers to issue
or serve process in the case of escaping slaves?
laws clearly in harmony with said decision,
and not in conflict with the rights of slave
claimants. Some States, too, in consideration of
the fact that, as the Court had nsserted the right
of slave claimants to seize their slaves wherever
found, without legal process, the liberties of portions
of their own free population might be put
in peril by sinister or mistaken claims, passed
laws securing to persons claimed us slaves the
right to have the question legally determined
whether they were not free. And no rightminded
man will pretend that such laws were
unconstitutional, or violative of the rights of
slave claimants.
That the barbarous lluss should be permitted
in the dark ages to hunt and seize by violence, in
the territory of a semi-barbarous Empire, any
one of its inhabitants, whom he might choose to
olaim as bis fugitive slave, does not surprise us.
Hut the musses have emerged from degradation
since the tenth century. Personal rights are now
deemed sucred, and no guaranties against their
violation are held to be too stringent. The
State that would deny to any person within its
limit's tho writ of habeas corjiut, in order to test
whether he was entitled to his freedom or not,
would be wanting iu the first duty of a sovereignty?that
of the just protectiou of those within its
jurisdiction.
No free State has passed any laws to discharge
from service or labor persons fugitive from other
States where such service or labor may be due,
but many of the free 6 atcs have severe enactments
for the prevention and punishment of kidnapping
The man, then, who aeizes in one of
these States a person whom he claims as his fugitive
slave, dees so at his peril. If the person
seized he a fugitive from service or labor within
the meaning of the Constitution, he is secure
against punishment. but should it turn out that
he has seized a free person, the law visits him
with its penalty.
It may be said that this makes it perilous for the
owners of fugitives to assert their just rights. He
it so: a State is derelict of duty which does not
protect its inhabitants against danger to their
liberties. Even a slaveholder must admit that it
is more important to protect the liberty of the
free, than to perpetunte the slavery of the bondman
The laws of the free States deprive him of
no rights, but are intended to guard every portion
of their own people from wrong, and to put him on
his guard in the exercise of what he or his agent
may deem his rights. The truth is, the decision
of the Supreme Court, so far as it affirmed bis
right to seiic and bear tff without legal process
an alleged fugitive, is justly chargeable with the
collisions that have since taken place in the recapture
of fugitives from service, and also vrlth
the laws to remedy injury from illegal seitnrea,
of which the sluve States complain. The reclamation
of slaves in States hulding no slaves and
hostile to slavery, is at best so oRVuaive to the
opinions and feelings of their people, that slave
?' 'fl?' ??
E NATIONAL ERA,
holders tl^nselves mast admit that it ought tc
be eonductra with as few irritating concomitant;
aa possible. When legal process is issued, when
it is served hy the officers of the law, when the
pretensions of the claimant-sire made under shelter
of the authority of the United States, there is
no danger of collision or violent interference.
Americans are distinguished for their respect for
legal forms, and they will submit, in the hope that
no unconstitutional aggression or claim will be
tolerated Hut it is a very different thing when
a stranger, with ft band of urine I men, appears in
a free State community, and proceeds, without
J authority of law, to seise by violence another
stranger under pretence that he is ? slave
Knowing neither, and nothing of the relations
of the two parties. the People see brute force put
forth by one to deprive the other of his liberty.
Would they not be less than men. did they
not iutcrpoer to see justice done? State law is
resorted to. far th' chit huh! mtq be a kul/V
snAmom s f/sissi/, s fit* ?;?.
No community, however low in the scaleof civ "
? ' ? ?.*? -? -?>? of violence
tlliatlOD, will rmiuiv ?UT ?r - r??
against apparently unoffeudiug individualSouie
of the Judce* of the Supreme Court did
foresee *n < predict precisely the conseqnences
that ha?e eeme to pass. Wo repeat. then, that
for the Mllitiiiu that have taken place in the
roeUaiitioa of Aig'-uves from justice, the Supreme
Court of the 1'iiiel States, and not the legislat
mi of the free State*, is to be hehi responsible.
Southern ?** irritated by the consequences of
thto decision of this Court, without stopping to
iHvrv* '.heir true cause, have sutFered tliems.'Nirt
o Vcvme si irued agaiust the North, in.Uv
is * is their denunciations of tho bad
k? i of N '.hem men, and insist upon additional
iMyafekiwn by Ccegre^", to remedy their supposed
wrvngs, although some of them admit that to the
rather than to the Federal Government,
ikt work of providing means for executing the fugitive
clause of the Constitution belongs Of the
;wstice of their denunciations and the reasonableness
of their demands, we may have something to
say in our next.
" WATCH VAX! WHAT OP THE MfiHT!"
We believe there is not half so much danger of
a dissolution of the Union, as there isof a compromise
of the Territorial Question fata! to Liberty.
The Non-Slaveholding people of the country have
decided that the Free Territories acquired from
Mexico shall remain free. They are just as unanimous
in this decision now as they have been at
any time since the question was agitated. Hut,
there is greot danger that their resolve may be
UfVted
The politicians, not daring to oppose directly
their known will, are seeking, by ingenious contrivances,
to render it ineffectual. The two old
parties are not trustworthy. Hunkerism is retraining
its ascendency in the Democratic warty?
Cass and Buchanan arc laboring to bring it back
to the Baltimore Platform, or rather, to renew it?
alliance with the Slave Power. Taylor and Clay
are crushing vitality out of the Whig Party. All
sorts of influences are hourly radiating from
Washington all over the country, intended to stifle
the free expression of sentiment in the Northern
States, by their leading men and LegislaturesThe
violent demonstrations of the Sluvery-Extensionists,
viewed with real or affected alarm by
certain Northern members of Congress, are used
to arrest action at home. Letters have been sent
from some of these gentlemen to managers in the
New York Legislature, advising them that the
Union is on the brink of a yawning gulf, and begging
them to be exceedingly prudent and moderate
in their declaration of opinions, should the
Legislature deem it best to make any at all. We
know the false and deceptive action of the State
Democratic Convention at Columbus, Ohio. It
was concerted, doubtless, with wire-pullers here.
We have Been the abominable shuttling in the
Legislature at Albany. The resolutions of Mr.
o Tuvlof m?mSpp, wpp? such BH Mr
Duer might have sustained : they evadeJ the real
issue before the country. Vitality was at last infused
into them by the action of the Democratic
members. In the Arsnnbly, Hunker Democrats
and Compromising Whigs have since been emulating
each other ill efforts to back iNew York out
of the position she has hitherto occupied. Imbecile
resolutions were reported by the Democratic
majority of the Select Committee to which
the Territorial Uuestion had been referred , the
Whig minority reported manfully in favor of Hit
Senate resolutions Then followed f<|iiivocating
time-serving resolutions from Messrs. Monroe
Waters, and Dox, Whig members, intended tc
propitiate Messrs. Toombs and Stephens, and tc
mould the forty according to the pattern in Gen
eral Taylor's recent message. And, up to thi.*hour,
the miserable politicians on both sidet
have been shuttling the question, without coming
to any result Was it for tliis tliey were sent tc
Albany?
Some of the hemocrats seem to be befooled
with the idea of harmony. 'I'hey want such ati
expression of opinion as shall unite their Party,
apparently indifferent to the tffeot it may hare
on the decision of the great Question here. What
would their unity he worth, without Principle tc
to give it life and power ?
Some seem to imagine that resolutions of Legislatures
produce no effect at Washington .Never
was there a greater mistake. Let Michigan re
scind her resolutions of instruction, and New
Yoik pass any of the doughface sets of resnlu
tions proposed, and the mischief done here would
be incalculable. The Slavery-Kxtensionists would
shout victory, and the hands of Northern mem
bers drop in despair.
Let the People awake ! The Constituency, bj
letters, through the press, by public meetings, tnaj
yet save the cause of Freedom from the treacherj
or imbecility of men who, kuowing their will, yel
presume to disregard it.
There is danger, we repeat. General Tayloi
advises Congress to abstain from all agitating die
cussion?to postpone action in relation to Nev
Mexico and Deseret till they shall npply for ad
mission as States?to let the People of the Terri
tories settle the Question of Slavery for them
selves, on organizing a Government?to adopt, ir
a word, the policy of a " masterly inactivity"?
anil the Whig Press throughout the country, will
rare exceptions, Bays, Amkn !
Henry Clay comes forward with a Compromise
as he calls it. He concedes to the North certaii
sentimtnft?he claims for the slave States all tha
slaveholders have demanded. He would adnii
California with " suitable boundaries." So woub
Mr. l'oote, meaning by ' suitable boundaries,"
:ib? on the south and -12? on the North 1 li
would have Territorial Governments set up it
New Mexico and Descret, without the Proviso
This is all that Slavery-Extensionists have evei
claimed. He would have slivcry in the Distric
perpetual, should the people of Maryland so w ill
no matter how much we. the people of the His
trict, might will otherwise He insists upon mor<
stringent legislation in regard to fugitives fron
service or labor, although already they are dcniei
the benefits of a jury trial and habeas corpus
And the poor boon he would yield the free States
is, the prohibition of the importation of slave
into the District! This he calls Compromise f Ant
this thing meets the warm approbation of thi
Philadelphia Daily N-tri, a thorough Whig paper
hitherto loud in its denunciations of Slavery-Hx
tension ! Hear it:
" We are not prepared to ssy that the resolu
tions offered by Mr. Clay will be approved h;
the Senate, but we have no hesitancy in declarini
our conviction, that of all the propositions yt>
submitted, they are not only the best calculates
to effect the object desired, hut the most likely t
meet the approval of the great m iss of the peopl
of all sections of the Union,
j "The adoption of these resolutions would be
triumph only of the spirit which produced th
1 Constitution, and whioh has sustained, and wil
forever sustain, the Union of the States In thi
movement Henry Clay has added to the fame tha
belongs to his name, and established his preeiui
neut claim to that distiuctloo, which thirty year
ago was adjudged by the people of the Unit*
' States to be hit?' the Great Pacificator.' "
WASHINGTON, D. C
? And even the editor of the ,V?r York Trih**t,
i while declining the so-called plan of Compromise,
i thinks that, were It sustained by the Southern
i members generally, it would be entitled to grave
consideration I Grave consideration, indeed1
i Why, it yields more than General Case ever proposed
to yield. He, while insisting, as Mr. Clay
does, that the Territories should be organized
without the Proviso, never had anything to say
about perpetuating Slavery in the Distriot, in
opposition to the will of the People here, at the
pleasure of the People of Maryland, or about
more effectual legislation on the subject of fugitive
slaves!
What virtue, what sense, what consistency,
what independence, in the politician who is forever
changing his position on important questions?
embracing to-day what yesterday he loathed?glorifying
?s the loftiest patriotism now, that which
an hour before he was branding as Treason?eulogizing
one man for opinions, while damning
another for entertaining the same!
The People must eschew Partyism?repudiate
slippery politicians?and let their representatives,
both in the State Legislatures and in Congress,
promptly understand that they cannot play false
on this question of Human Rights, without suffering
political death: otherwise this Congress
will witness a compromise of the rights and interests
of the non-slaveholderaof the country, and of
Ihe Cause of Liberty, unparalleled in its infamy.
CHANGE OF OPINION.
The Nicholson Letter, in which it was decided
! that Congress ought not to legislate upon the inj
ternal concerns a Territory, and in which it
was claimed that the People thereof have a right
, to regulate their own domestic institutions, was
deemed so orthodox by the slaveholding Democrats,
that its author was selected as their standard
bearer in the Presidential contest. By him and
his doctrine they were willing to stand or fall.
In the exercise of the rights asserted in their
behalf, by the Democracy of the North aud South
the People of California hare formed a State
j Constitution and prohibited Slavery. Of course,
j all the supporters of General Cass will give the
I new State a cordial welcome to the Union 1 How
their patriotic hearts must rejoice that the good
people thereof have spared Congress the trouble
of settling for them a very disagreeable and eiciting
subject!
Alas! there is anythin^but rejoicing Maledictions
in any quantity, but no benedictions!
All slaveholding Democracy are becoming conscious
of a change of opinion?Mr. Butler in the
Senate. Mr. Seddon in the House, repudiate the
illustrious author of the Nicholson Letter. Tisgt ,
deride the idea of the People of a T erritory baring
; a right to legislate for themselves?Congress alone
1 has the power. Any other doctrine is an astounding
absurdity ! Well?what do they want now ?
! Merely that Congress, by its sovereign power,
should interfere, set aside the Constitution of
I California, abrogate her prohibition of Slavery,
and force upon her a Territorial Government,
. which shall open her country to the inroads of
the evil! That is all?they only want interven!
tion by the Federal Government in favor of
j Slavery !
LAND REFORM I.N THE SENATE.
On the first page of the Em we give a pretty
full report of the irregular debate on Land Reform,
which took place in the Senate last week
Several propositions had been introduced, embracing
the principle of Freedom of the Public
Lands to actwil settlers, among them, a resolution
by Daniel Webster. IJis proposition does not
conflict with the bill proposed by Mr. Douglas,
but it has been introduced separately, we presume,
so that its author may deliver his views at large
on the subject, without being bound by the details
of any particular measure.
Hitherto, the conservatism of the Northern
qrwt Southern At'onti*.S??tes has oton.1 ??
way of the proposed reform; hut when such a
man as Mr. Webster gives way. the advocates of
the Freedom of the Public Lands may well congratulate
themselves on the success of their efforts.
With Webster and Seward, representing
the Northern States, Douglas, Walker, and Cass,
the Western aud Northwestern, Foote and Houston
the Southwestern, the great object aimed at
must soon be accomplished.
As to the comparative merits of the severnl
' schemes proposed, we may have something to say
, hereafter.
In ancient Home, the reforms proposed by the
(jracchi were resisted by the large slaveholders
and land-owners, because their tendency was to
limit the tield of slave lalior by rescuing the
public domain from their grasping avarice, and
to build up a powerful class of small land owners
> and working men. whose interests and votes
' might control the Republic. Similar reasons will
provoke like hostility to Land Reform in this
I TK? InKufn tn u Yiinlt u a Ltm afnwvn.l
1 i shows from what quarter opposition to the Freei
doni of the Public Lands may he expected Mr.
( Dawson of Georgia was full of apprehension st
these new-fangled schemes. He saw little hope
' for the Republic. There was no party that had
the power or disposition to save it from its mani
fold perils. Public men were bidding for office,
by these projects of spoliation, and he seemed to
think that the root of all the mischief was yojm'
hn suffrage. This is a favorite theory with the
Slaveholding Caste. They dislike popular insti'
tutions Mr. Butler of South Carolina said, the
' other day. that the ballot-bor. was Pandora's box
We suppose he gives voice to the settles! convictions
of the Slaveholding Caste in his own State,
' for we are all aware that by various constitu'
tionnl contrivances in that State, popular power
' is greatly restricted, and all but slaveholders are
t rendered virtually ineligible to a seat in the
Legislature or to the office of Governor.
The large slave-owners naturally regard Land
Reform and the Anti-Slavery cause as affiliated enterprises.
Without referring now to the doctrines
of Homestead Exemption and Land Limitation,
a few remarks upon the tendencies of securing
the Freedom of the Public Lands, will show that
1 they have grounds for their opinion. Slave labor
" requires extensive tracts of land for its profitable
1 employment , and soon exhausting the soil in one
section, constantly demands new and illimitable
> fields in other sections. The occupation of the
1 public lands by small cultivators, restricting its
' range, would tend to diminish its profits, and
' finally make it worthless. Hence it ig to the in'
terest of this Urge class of slaveholders, so far
as that is involved in the system of Slavery, that
8 the public domain he secured against extensive
1 occupation by small farmers.
Again for political reasons they are opposed
r to this disposition of the Public Lands Let every
1 actual settler be entitled to 1K0 acres of these
lands, without cost, on the sin pie condition of
* permanent settlement and cultivation, and several
9 results would follow, unfavorable to the aseend1
ency of the Slave Power. The tide of foreign
' immigration, already regarded 1 y it with a jeal1
ous eye, would be greatly quickened. The emi>
grants, as they arrive, would continue to reek
8 homes beyond the reach of the intluenreof Sla'
very. The crowds of landless men, now cheap9
ening labor and increasing the public burdens in
S our Kastern States, would emigrate to the Went,
- and become converted into an industrious jeomaury.
The growth of the politioal power of the
* free States of the Weat would be stimulated, and
f new States would be rapidly formed in the name
* quarter. Meantime, the poor white population
1 on which the slaveholders rely in certain cor.tin0
gencies. would be attracted from the older slave
?i States, thus reduoing their political weight, and
be distributed, some in the free States and Terrip
tories, adding to their power, and seme on the
1 public domain lying in the slave region of the
x Southwest, giving rise, in process of time, to s
' yeomanry of small landholders, whose interests
g would iuevitsbiy conflict with those of slave laj
bor
We merely glance at these things, suggesting.
FEBRUARY 7, 185
rather than portraying, the consequences that j
would follow the establishment of tho"policy now
no favorably entertain*J in the Senate of the
United States. In view of theee considerations, I
wa predict that Land Reform will encounter from
the representatives of the claw of large slave- j
owners in Congreee, an oppositaon only leee than
that now arrayed against the Anti-Slavery cause.
Time will show that Slavery elands in the way
of every Reform in thia country of national iujport
and consequence.
WK. am RESOLUTIONS AND PLAN OF COMPROMISE.
We have been at pains to present such a report '
of the debate in the Senate, on the 29th of January,
on Mr. Clay'a plan of compromise, as the
reader mav find time to examine. His resolu
?
lions, in brief, propose to admit California as a
State, with reduced boundaries; to institute Territorial
Governments for New Mexico and Deseret,
without the Wilmot Promo; to buy out the
claim of Texas to a large portion of New Mexico
; to make the abolition of slavery in this District
dependentupon the consent of the peopleof Maryland
and of the District, and upon just compensaion
; and to prohibit the importation of slaves into
the Distriot for sale or residence; to provide more
stringent laws for the recapture of fugitives, aud to
deny to Congress the power to regulate or abolish
the inter-State slave trade.
We have no doubt that Mr Clay is actuated by
patriotic motives in submitting thesp resolutions,
but it will puzxle our readers to find out where
the compromise is, said to be proposed in them.
They demand of the free States to exclude a large
portion of the State of California from the benefits
of its anti-slavery Constitution, to continue
their sanction to sluv. ry in the District of Columbia,
to give increased facilities for the recapture
of fugitives from service or labor, when the Constitution
does not bind them to take any part in
their recapture, and to abandon the Wilmot Proviso,
in other words, the Jetfersonian policy of the
Ordinance of 1787 ! And what is the consideration
which they are to receive for these extraordinary
concessions? We should like to see it
pointed out.
The subject U one that admits of no compromise.
What rights ha? Slavery in the territories
acquired from Mexico? It did not exist there i
when we acquired them?it was prohibited by ,
law?it has not since been reestablished. The
Territories are free in law and in fact. What is
there to compromise ? What can Slavery give in
return for an abandonment of the Territories to
its accursed pretensions ? Blight, and mildew,
and blasting, and eternal discord. The question
between North aorl South?for the^v'ixens
of all sections have au unquestioned, an unquee-,
tionable right to settle in the Territories, to enjoy
equslly their richest benefits. It is a question
between Liberty and Slavery?between lnstitu- j
tutions which make the laboring roan, property.!
and institutions which seek to make him a prop-:
erty-holder?between a system which seeks and
promotes the interests of all men in all eections,
and a system which tusks and degrades a large
clat-B, for the exclusive benefit of a small class,
to the detriment of all other classes. This system
which has no rights, save those created and
guarantied by special law, Mr. Clay proposes to
tolerate in Territories now free by law and in
fact from its presence. And this is called compromise
!
The resolutions, so far as they relate to the
Territories, propose practical Non-intervention?
the Non-intervention, not of General Taylor, but
of General Cass. For this gentleman, as interpreted
by the Washington Union, while finding no
express grant of power in the Constitution, infers
the power of Congress to give government to the
Territories from a moral necessity, which also must
be the measure of the power?and that, as there
is no such necessity for legislation on the subject
of Slavery, Congress has no power over the subject,
and ought not to pass the Wilmot Proviso
Mr. Uimy rnicuni prtuiaeiy lue aaiue conclusion,
though by a different process. Both unite
in this that Congress ought to establish Terri
shivery. Precisely this issue was passed upon by
the People of the United States at the late Presidential
election. General Cass stood forth the
distinct representative of the principle of A'onIntrrtrntWH,
as embodied in Mr. Clay's resolution*,
against a candidate non-committal on the
subject, and on that issue he was defeated, the
great majority even ot' his supporters in the free
States, while voting for the man, protesting
against the principle he represented !
And now, a distinguished Whig Senator introduces,
as a platform of compromise in the Senate
of the United Slates, the very doctrine and policy
which were so signally condemned by the great
majority of the voters of the country a little more
than one year ago!
The sentiments of Mr. Clay, generally, were
better than his resolutions. They divided him,
evidently, from the extreme Southern nun It
will fee observed that his plan was promptly disavowed
by them in emphatic terms. There is no
limit to their demands. They insist u|>on rejecting
California, because her people have decided
against slavery. i hey demand that the Territories
shall be thrown open to slavery. They assert
that slavery is not excluded now Ly law from
their boundaries. They aftirin that Congress
cinnot touch the subject of slavery in the District.
They insist that no free Sta e be admitted
into the Union, without being coupled with a
slave State. They would convert the free States
into hunting grounds for the kidnapper, and use
the whole corps of postmasters and custom house
collectors as catchpoles for the slaveholder.
Practically, the resolutions of Mr. Clay yielded
all that thvy demanded ; but they d> nounced
them, because the concessions were placed upon
reasons which they feared would not furnish
grounds in future for more extensive demands.
There is but one way of dealing with this subject.
Concede not one inch of the free Territories
of the United States to Slavery if there be any
act of the Federal Government authorizing it
anywhere, repeal that act. Non-Intervention, in
its true constitutional sense, is the policy by
which these audacious demands should b? met.
And as for consequences, we are willing to abide
them.
HOW TO SAVE THE UNION.
The Wathingion Union is profoundly anxious
about the Union of the States, and sees but one
way to arrest dissolution?that is, the formal
declaration by General Taylor that, should the
Wilmot Proviso pass Congress, he will veto it!
This is no joke of ours. It is a sober verity.
From day to day the Union calls upon the President
to come out, and pledge his veto in advance
on any such measure. He is informed ihat it is
owing to his non-committal attitude thnt the
South is so much alarmed?that an earthquake is
already beginning to shake the glorious fabric of
the Union?that there are signs of fearful portent
in the heavens, while men's hearts are failing them
for fear It is for him to utter the magical phrase?
" / will veto u"?and theee horrid portents will
disappear before the brightening sun of peace.
Then the South would be assuaged?Mr. Cling
man would no more calculate the value of the
Union?Mr. Toombs would cease to thunder?
Mr Foote would grow calm?Mr. Davis would
sheath his sword?and the Nashville Convention,
instead of taking measures for the destrnrtion of
the Union, would pass a vote of thanks to the
Hero of Palo Alto and Reaaca de la Palma
Under other circumstances, we know not how
the old soldier could withstand these burning
appeals hot, the truth ia, he has hit upou another
device for saving the Union, a device helJ in high
favor by the Washington Union, when it iasued
its prospectus a few mouths since, laying down
the doctrine of Non-intervention aa the Democratic
platform. If this platform is strong enough
to bear the great National Democratic Varty,
why, asks the General, should it not afford a
firm basis for the Union, of whieh that Party is
0.
aid to b? the groat pillar? He think* that the
Whig Party ia the real bond of the Union, and
deems it all-Important to maintain ite unit/.
Break that up, and what would become of ua?
Bat, he has a shrewd suspicion that, to announce
bis pledge In advance to veto the Wilmot Proviso,
might produce this very catastrophe. Indeed he
knows that it "Would shiver into fragments the
great Whig Party.
Non-intervention, however, may he gradually
forced upon it, without any serious disruption?
and in this way he will save the Union, the Party,
and Limself I
On the whole, we advise the Union to forbear
further talk about vetoes in advance?it is breath
wasted. General Taylor, to borrow a classical
phrase from the elegant Mr. Cliogman, " teoti't
go ?? " _
THE ORDINANCE (IK 17*7 AND TIIK DECLARATION
OF INDEPENDENCE, VOTED DOWNII
, THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES.
On the 31st December, at the earliest possible
moment after the organization of the House, Mr.
Root of Ohio introduced the following resolution,
on which he demanded the previous question:
" Resolved, That the Committee on Territories
be instructed to report to the I louse, with us little
delay as possible, a bill or bills, providing a Territorial
Government or Governments for all that
part of the territory ceded to the United States
by Mexico, by the treaty of Gaudalupe.Hidalgo,
lying eastwani of tfce Sierra Nevada mountains,
and prohibiting slavery therein."'
Mr. Stephens of Georgia moved that the resolution
be laid upon the table. Had this prevailed,
it would have been equivalent to voting it down.
It failed, by a majority against it of twenty-six?
aii*V<t lAnmA/twalu ami iKwan Wkicra knivitvow ft*nn?
V.^UV 1'V.UJUV. ?" ?"? "?"?'? )
(he free Stites voting with the slavery extensionists
to lay it upon the table.
Ileforc the question was taken on the demand
for the previous question, the House adjourned.
Last Monday, February 5th, the Speaker announced
that the States would now be called upon
for resolutions, and the first business in order was
the resolution offered by Mr. Root, on which he
had demanded the previous question.
Mr. Root modified his resolution so as to specify
the territory eastward of California, instead of
the Sierra Nevada, and renewed his demand for
the previous question.
Mr. Haralson moved to lny it upon the table,
and on this motion Mr. Root called for the yeas
and nays. The great majority of the House was
indisposed to allow them, willing to escape the
responsibility of an open vote.
" Do not tfiem the yras and nays," said a
Whig member from New York; Mr. Underbill,
if we mistake not. Tellers wjj-e ^demanded on
the yeas and nays, and in this way barely enough
were secured, and the yeas and nays were ordered.
The public will be surprised at the result.
We, who are on the spot, however mortified, were
not surprised. The vote stood, yeas 105, nays 79.
So, by a majority of twenty-six, the House laid
upon the table a resolution which five weeka before
it had refused to lay upon the table by a
majority of twenty-five.
Such a vote must be closely scrutinised.
It will he observed that the vote was small?
only 184 out of 231 members casting their votes.
A few of the absentees, among them Julian and
Wilmot, Free-Soilers, entered the Hall just too
late to have their names recorded. Mr. Tuck, Mr.
Crowell, and Mr. Wentworth, were absent from
the city. Mr. Winthrop was in his seat a few
minutes before his name was reached in the call
ing of the roll, but was absent when his name was
culled.
With this exception, we give the names of the
absentees, or those who did not vote.
Andrews, New York, Whig
Bennett, New York, Whig
Bokee, New York, Whig
Burrows, New York, Whig
Duer, New York, Whig
Reynolds, New York, Whig
nose, iTe? v?k, w hig
Schoolcraft, New York, Whig
Casey, Pennsylvania, Whig
Chandler, Pennsylvania, Whig
Hampton, Pennsylvania, Whig
Levin, Pennsylvania, Whig
Nes. Pennsylvania, Whig
Jteed, Pennsylvania, Whig
Grinnell, Massachusetts, Whig
Winthrop, Massachusetts, Whig
Crowell, Ohio, Whig
Meacham, Vermont, Whig
Newell, New Jersey, Whig
Doty, Wisconsin, Democrat
Hoagland, Ohio, Democrat
Thompson, Pennsylvania Democrat
Wood, Ohio, Democrat
Wentworth, Illinois, Democrat
Julian, Indiana Free Soil
Wilmot, Pennsylvania, Free Soil
Tuck, New Hampshire, Free Soil
Had Ashrnun, Crowell, Meacham, Doty, Newell,
Wool, Wentworth, Julian, Wilmot, and
Tuck, been present, they would have voted against
laying upon the table. As to the rest of the absentees,
we cannot speak. That so mnny Whigs,
nineteen in nil, and especially that so many from
the State of New York, should be absent when
they must have known that the resolution of Mr
Koot would come up, is a fact very significant,
when taken in connection with the other fact that
a large number of Whigs, especially from New
York, voted to lay the resolution on the table.
While twenty-eight Northern members were
absent, there were only fifteen absent members
from the South.
The following Northern men voted to lay the
resolution on the table?in other words, against
the institution of Territorial Governments ivith
the Wilmot Proviso incorporated intlntn:
Albertson, ludiann, Democrat,
Bissell, Illinois, Democrat,
Briggs, New York, Whig,
Brooke, New York, W'hig,
W. J. Brown, Indiana, Democrat,
Chester Butler, Pennsylvania, Whig,
Clarke, New York, Whig,
Dimmick, Pennsylvania,, Democrat,
Dixon, Khode Island, Whig,
Dunham, Indiana, Democrat,
Fuller, Maine, Democrat,
Gilmore, Pennsylvania, Democrat,
Gorman, Indiana, Democrat,
Harris, Illinois, Democrat,
James G.King, New Jersey, Whig,
John A. King, New York, Whig,
Letfler, Iowa, Democrat,
Mann, Pennsylvania, Democrat,
McClernand, Illinois, Democrat,
McKissock, New York, Wh;g,
McLanahan, Pennsylvania. Democrat,
Miller, Ohio, Democrat,
Nelson, New York, Whig,
Pbu-nix, New York, Whig,
Pitman, Pennsylvania, Whig,
Richaidaon, Illinois, Democrat,
Bobbins, Pennsylvania, Democrat,
Boss, Pennsylvania, Democrat,
Taylor, Ohio, Whig,
Underbill, New York, Whig,
Vinton, Ohio, Whig,
Young, Illinois, Democrat
Classified according to States, they are as follows
:
He in or rat* Wings
Indiana 40
Illinois -10
flew York ---06
Pennsylvania 0 a
Bhode Island >>01
Maine - 1 0
New Jersey 0 1
Iowa t n
Obio ... 1 2
Summing up (be result*, no far a* tba free
Stales are concerned, we And tbe following:
Dm wam * *>"
Voted to lay on the table - 18 14 0.
Voted agninst laying on the
Uble . a* 4* ?
Absentees - . 3 ! 3
111
VOL. IV.
Th? vote we have analyxed will utonish the
whole country. It has bumbled the free States,
it bus emboldened the Slavery Kxtensionista, it
h&j inflicted a deadly blow on the onuse of Freedom.
The members from the free States who
betrayed their constituents on this occasion were
with few exceptions solemnly pledged to maintain
the Wilmot Proviso. They could not have been
elected but for their professed hostility to the
extension of slavery, and their professed devotion
to the policy of the Ordinance of 1787. Once
in their seats, they disregard their pledges, and
| turn their bocks on their oouatitacuta. Of the
eighteen Democrats who voted against the Ordinance
of 1787, nine are from Indiana and Illinni.
! and may lie presumed to refleot the opinion of
I Gen. Cass j and six are from Pennsylvania, voting
doubtless in accordance with the wishes of Mr.
tiuchannn, who has been spending some time
here, and who is full of apprehension for the stability
of the Union. These two gentlemen are
Presidential candidates in expectancy?they look,
as ever, to the South, for support, abhor the ProYiHO,
and would hare their supporters sympathize
with them. Of the fourteen Whigs who voted
against the Ordinance, eight are from New York?
and of the nineteen absentees, eight are New York
Whigs?in all, sixteen WLigs from that State,
who doubtless have felt themselves encouraged
by the truckling course of Messrs. Waters, Monroe,
and Poi, in the New York Assembly, to reverse
their position.
Of the potent cause of this change of position
of the Whig Party in Congress, there can be no
doubt. Their constituents sent them here as
Wilmot Proviso men. They boasted that they
were the true Liberty Party?that in their hands
alone the interests of the Cause of Free Soil
would lie secure. They hold their seats in virtue of
such pledges, but nearly two-fifths of them, at the
word of command from General Taylor, wheel
ubout, and go dead against the policy to carry out
which they were elected. We say two-fifths, for
while fourteen voted to lay upon the table the
resolution, of the nineteen absent, nearly all, we
have reason to believe, approved of this policy.
And what is this policy ? To suppress all agitation
of Anti-Slavery questions in Congress, and
fn rtAatnnnA fit A Hit h r\f
v rw.rwMv ?- v. vigauiftiijg uufernraents
for New Mexico anil Deseret, ho that they
may form State Governments, decide the question
of Slavery as they please, and then enter
the Union, whether they come as free or slave
States. That is the policy of the President's
Message?that is the policy of his organ in this
city?that is the policy sanctioned by the Whig
press of the country, with few exceptions?that
5?-th? "policy Ot <*"? V?#d.in? WfcUr^Mpm/iee?,Qf, ^?
Congress?and the first fruit of that policy was
ttyf re/-* ?' '??? ? bv wh^?h for the fret,
time since the Wilmot Proviso was introduced
into the House, it was voted down !
Now recollect, th*e Committee on the Territories
is organixed so that a majority of its members
are hostile to the Wilmot Proviso. The
delegates from Oeseret and New Mexico are here,
with the Territorial Constitutions of their respective
Territories, and applications to be admitted
on the floor of the House as Territorial
delegates. These Constitutions contain no restriction
as to Slavery, and will go to a Committee
opposed to the incorporation of any such restriction.
The Committee will of course report them
without the Proviso, as the House has refused to
instruct it otherwise. Such instruction the resolution
of Mr. Root proposed; thus expressing
the will of nineteen-lwentieths of the People
the free States of all parlies?a will hitherto declared
by the Legislatures of all those States,
excepting Iowa. But the Taylor Whigs and
Cass and Buchanan Democrats joined hands with
the Slavery-Extensionists, and put their vtto upon
a!
What egregious folly, what a base betrayal of
the interests of Freedom ! Had the Northern
members stood by their oft-declared determination.
they would have passed Root's resolution-they
would have put through all their stages the
bills reported under such instruction. True,
the bills would have been killed in the Senate,
but New Mexico and Deseret would have been
no worse off than if General Taylor's policy bad
heeu followed from the beginning?while Free
dom would have been saved. The moral power
of the voting in the House would have enabled
the friends of Freedom to bring in California
without reduced boundaries, and would have admonished
New Mexico and Deseret, that when
they came as States, they must present themselves
with Anti-Slavery Constitutions.
To the Free Soil agitation throughout the
country, and to the Anti-slavery|voting in the
House, the Southern members ascribe the formation
of an anti-slavery Constitution in California.
Now, how stands the case ? An anti-Wilmot
Proviso majority is revealed in the House, and the
Northern members, by their disgraceful abandonmentof
the Wilmot Proviso ground, have strengthened
the power of the Slavery Rxtensionists, endangered
the boundnriesof California, and virtu
ally said to the People of New Mexico and Dewret,
do as you please, tolerate or exclude Slavery,
you shall be alike welcome.
We know not which has cursed the free States
more?the imbecility or treachery of their politicians.
Unless they soon awake, uud speak
such a langu ge to their public servants as they
cannot misunderstand, their honor and rights will
forever be betrayed.
To expose more clearly the corrupt policy of
the Northern men to whom we have alluded, Mr.
Giddingsoffrred the following resolutions, containing,
as will be seen, merely nn affirmation that
the rights asserted, by our Declaration of Independence
to be inalienable, ought to be secured in
constituting Governments for the Territories.
This was a proposition, containing a simple dec- (
lsration of a great Truth, in such a form that it
could not possibly embarrass any party interests.
Here are the resolutions :
" Resolved, That we hold these truths to be selfevident,
that all men are created equal; that they
are endowed by their Creator with inalienable
rights to life and liberty; and that Governments
are constituted among men to secure these rights
" R'solred. That in constituting Governments
in any Territory of the United States, it is the
duty ot Congress to secure the People thereof, of
whatsoever complexion, in the enjoyment of the
ngUWJ KIU1DW1U."
After the developments we bare made, the People
need not be surprised to learn that this resolution
was laid upon the table ? voted down, in
other words?by a vote of 10-1 to S9.
For the special benefit of the constituents of
Gbaiiam N. Fitch of Indiana, who waa elected
only by the most solemn pledges of thorough anti-slavery
action, we may state, that he voted with
the Slavery Fxtensionists to lay the Principles
of the Declaration of Independence upon the
table.
Enough If the People choose to send au> h
men to Congress, let them take the consequence*
For 'he National fcra.
THE POIKIIKEEPME BLACKSMITH.
Mr. Editob : Hatting seen itannonnced in your
paper that Mr. Van Wagner, the M Poughkeepsie
Blacksmith," would lecture upon the subjeot of
temperance, at Temperance Hall, on E atreet. on
Thursday and Monday evenings ls?t paat, I felt
' it my interest, and made it my !* * pleasure, to
be present at one of the meetinga; and, knowing
Mr. Van Wagner personally, hit charade* ari
talents will command my respect and attention
wherever he may be; he la n self-made man, and
there are few of oar public speakers who are en
gaged in the great moral reform which he espouses
that handle the sutyect more forcibly.
I notlee this matter from the fact, that I see the
reporters for your city paper*?whose duty, at
least, it should bs to give an Impartial account of
all that Is passing to intorest your oitiious and
the etrengere among you?in mating up meir w
ooenta or the doing* at your theatres, concert*
' fee., have entirely oreilooked theee meetings If
thee# pablie amneementa do mere good ia the com
menity, I qneelion eery much if they here excited
ae much internet in the public mind an this lecturer
haa upon tamperanoe here. Why, air, there v-re
at leant eeven hmndred people at their laet act
na every one rhoold hear Mr Vaa Wag |
ner upon thia aabjeot, I report this 8 4