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[[three columns]] [[column 1]] THE LIBERATOR. PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY, AT THE ANTI-SLAVERY OFFICE, 25, CORNHILL. [[horizontal line]] HENRY W. WILLIAMS, GENERAL AGENT. [[horizontal line]] [[image: line drawing of hand pointing to the right]] All remittances are to be made, and all letters relating to the pecuniary concerns of the paper are to be directed, ([[italics]] post paid, [[/italics]]) to the General Agent. [[image: line drawing of hand pointing to the right]] TERMS.--$2 50 per annum, payable in advance; or $3 00 at the expiration of six months. [[image: line drawing of hand pointing to the right]] Five copies will be sent to one address for ten dollars, if payment be forwarded in advance. [[image: line drawing of hand pointing to the right]] ADVERTISEMENTS making less than a square inserted three times for 75 cts.: one square for $1 00. [[italics]] Financial Committee [[/italics]].--FRANCIS JACKSON, ELLIS GRAY LORING, EDMUND QUINCY, SAMUEL PHILBRUCK, WENDELL PHILLIPS. [This committee is responsible only for the financial economy of the paper.] [[double horizontal line]] WM. LLOYD GARRISON, EDITOR [[bold]] VOL. XV.--No. 26. [[/bold]] [[double horizontal line]] [[/column 1]] [[column 2]] [[image: line drawing of the logo for "The Liberator"]] [[double horizontal line]] OUR COUNTRY IS THE WORLD--OUR CONTRYMEN ARE ALL MANKIND. [[double horizontal line]] [[bold]] BOSTON, FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 1845. [[/bold]] [[double horizontal line]] [[/column 2]] [[column 3]] [[image: line drawing of hand pointing to the right]] All men are born free and equal--with certain natural, essential and unalienable rights--among which are life,liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. [[image: line drawing of hand pointing to the right]] Three millions of the American people are in chains and slavery--held as chattels personal, and bought and sold as marketable commodities. [[image: line drawing of hand pointing to the right]] Seventy thousand infants, the offspring of slave parents, kidnapped as soon as born, and permanently added to the slave population of Christian,(!) Republican,(!!) Democratic(!!!) America every year. [[image: line drawing of hand pointing to the right]] Immediate, Unconditional Emancipation [[image: line drawing of hand pointing to the right]] Slave-holders, Slave-traders and Slave-drivers are to be placed on the same level of infamy, and in the same fiendish category, as kidnappers and menstealers--a race of monsters unparalleled in their assumption of power, and their despotic cruelty. [[image: line drawing of hand pointing to the right]] The existing Constitution of the United States is 'a covenant with death, and an agreement with hell.' NO UNION WITH SLAVEHOLDERS [[double horizontal line]] J. BROWN VERRINTON, PRINTER. [[double horizontal line]] [[bold]] WHOLE No. 754. [[/bold]] [[/column 3]] [[six columns]] [[column 1]] REFUGE OF OPPRESSION [[horizontal line]] Correspondence of the N. Y. Observer. THE MARLBORO' CHAPEL GATHERING Never, never was I so firmly sure that [[italics]] anti [[/italics]]-slavery is a righteous cause, dear to God, and destined to triumph, as when I saw this cause dishonored and defiled by the men who call themselves abolitionists, and haunt the Marlboro' Chapel with their rampant madness, follow and slander. The time was when every man North of Mason & Dixon's line was an [[italics]] abolitionist [[/italics]], that is to say, an earnest wisher for the emancipation of the slaves of the South. And, in my soul, I believe, that had it not been for Garrison, Green, Goodell, Smith, Leavitt, and their associates, the knell of slavery before this hour would have tolled over the sunny plains of the South, and the song of ransomed thousands would have run through the arch of heaven, in the ears of a rejoicing universe. But why did I feel that the [[italics]] cause [[/italics]] must be a good one when I saw it in such hands? For this one very good reason. Had it not been a good cause, it would have gone to perdition with ten thousand mill-stones around its neck, long, long ago; such a miserable set of friends has it been cursed with. And if any one has a lingering doubt of this fact, let him attend one Garrison meeting, where he and Foster, and Abby Kelley, and McClure, &c. &c., hold forth, and all doubt will give place to wonder that God should ever suffer a good work to fall into such horrid hands. I had read the reports of the mongrel meetings at Boston in years past, and had supposed them caricatures by unfriendly hands. But Hogarth could not ridicule the Convention which I had the amusement of attending, and how shall I, without the tithe of a master's skill in sketching, give my readers a picture of that meeting? The fact is, you ought to [[italics]] see [[/italics]] the men and women, to appreciate it. If there is any truth in physiognomy, they are a hard set. Wendell Phillips and [[italics]] one [[/italics]] young lady were the only good-looking ones on the platform, and I suppose the individuals thus elevated were the [[italics]] elite [[/italics]] of the party. [[italics]] Primus inter pares [[/italics]] is Garrison; a fallen spirit, once a man of power, of poetry, of humanity; the same sin that damned an army of angels has been his ruin. He moves now among his confederates powerless even for evil, chafing under the mortification of blighted hopes, and evidently despairing of gaining his lost throne. Five years ago, he seemed to have all the elements of a great leader in a good cause. I saw him in New-York at the great meeting where the American Anti-Slavery Society was rent in twain by the measures which [[italics]] he [[/italics]] drove on. The main question was the [[italics]] rights of women [[/italics]]. Garrison would have the women to speak in meeting; Leavitt and Tappan were opposed.-- The annual meeting was to be in New-York, where Garrison's friends were few and his enemies swarmed; but there were steamboats and stages, and New-England had hundreds whom Garrison rallied to the city for the great battle. The day arrived. The church was crowded before the hour, and when Abby Kelley was nominated as an officer of the meeting, the storm began. Hundreds of voices mingled confusedly, some hissing, some applauding, and some vainly striving to be heard.--Garrison rose on one of the seats in front of the pulpit, stretched out his hand, and the waves were stilled. He told them the hour had come to test the great question which had divided the Society, and as it was vital with them he exhorted his friends to stand firm. He then poured out a stream of burning invective against those who had opposed him, till Tappan, who was standing, near me, turned all colors but red, (he never blushes,) and trembled as an aspen. Leavitt, cool and sharp as vinegar, kept on writing as though he had lost his hearing. Tappan, and Dennison, and Leavitt, replied to Garrison, but the edict of the dictator had gone forth, and resistance was vain. The Garrison party triumphed, and the Leavitt faction withdrew. Since that, the two parties have fought each other from separate camps. The old Society has made open war upon the church of Christ; the new Society has done more mischief in the church by its secret machinery than the old by its open war. Then the staff of accomplishment passed out of the hands of Garrison; he has since been at the head of a little clique, but has lost all power except the indomitable will. The Convention which I have just attended at Boston was got up under his auspices, and the platform declared to be free to all. It was occupied by anybody and everybody who was to give the hearers the wisdom that was in him. Wendell Phillips was one of the chief speakers. He is a gentleman in address and education, a speckled bird in the party to which he belongs, and the only man for whom you feel any sympathy as you look on the meeting. He has fine talents, is a good speakers and in extemporaneous harangue, is as polished and powerful as almost any man whom I have heard. Clapp was another Mercury. He has a sad, hang-dog look about him; but nature may have belied him, and in spite of his long beard, sunken eyes, and malignant face, he may be a decent man. But the speeches I heard from him only made me more apprehensive that he carries his heart in his face. Foster was often up. He has won a wide notoriety for going into churches to make speeches during divine service, and has been thrust into jail for such displays of his eloquence. This is his capital. He is a cadaverous-looking, tall, thin, nervous, irritable, and impatient of restraint. Such a man gives spice to a meeting. Rogers, of New-Hampsure, has more genius than any two of them. He was once a lawyer in lucrative business, but has abandoned his profession and turned reformer. An ally of Garrison he was at the outset of his career, and burnt incense to him, but feeling his own power, he could not brook the insolence of the dictator, and so threw him off. The two men are now abusing one another, to the amazement of their followers, and the amusement of their enemies. Rogers has a large grey head, with a strongly marked visage, indicating strength of purpose and passion, but a smile of good nature often lights up his features, as if he were not quite as unamiable a man as first appearances would intimate. He is a thorough Non-Resistant, and so consistent that he has abolished [[italics]] family [[/italics]] government, leaving human nature to work out its own results without any help from him. I have mentioned a few, and but a few, of the prominent members of the Convention. There were many others whom I did not know, and hope I never shall, men whom I should be loth to meet alone in the dark, if their looks are not the worst of them. Now I am very willing to admit that it is no objection to a set of men that they are not well-favored, but I think no observing man could enter Marlboro' Chapel while this meeting was under way, without being [[italics]] struck [[/italics]] with the curious configurations before him. I have no faith in phrenology, but physiognomy is quite another affair. The first day of the Convention, and part of the next, was spent in denunciations of the church and the ministers of the gospel. If I should, in speaking of these speakers, call them liars, and hypocrites, and villains, I should use terms quite as refined and appropriate as those which they applied indiscriminately to the clergy of New-England.--Appropriate! Why, if it be appropriate to call a man a liar who stands up publicly and utters what he knows to be untrue, and glories in his avowals, who retails slanders of times refuted, and which may be disproved at any time, then it would be appropriate to call this Convention a 'Society of Liars and Slanderers.' But that would be degrading one's self to their low level, and I shall not be an imitator of their bad example. [[/column 1]] [[column 2]] Rev. Dr. Osgood, of Springfield, and excellent man, President of the Massachusetts Abolition Society, stood up and repelled the slanders which these men were heaping on the heads of the clergy, and you may be sure the words of truth and soberness sounded strangely in such a place. But his words were in plain defiance of that command of the savior, 'Cast not your pearls before swine,' and he found it so, for they trampled them under their feet, and turned again to rend him. At another time, Gov. Pinney, formerly of Liberia, attempted to pour a little truth into the ocean of falsehood whose wages were dashing around him, and he was flatly told that 'he was a genuine devil, and his scheme the very spawn of hell.' Such are the arguments by which these reformers expect to convince the people of the Southern States of their duty to abolish slavery! On a second day of the sessions, N. P. Rogers introduced a series of resolutions that raised an unexpected breeze. One of them was in these words: Resolved, That all speech should be free and unrestrained; that meetings should be free and unregulated by officers or majorities; and that the press should be uncontrolled of all censorship, whether by 'Boards' or corporate majorities; and that any measures to regulate speech or the press, grounded on the opinion that individual freedom cannot 'safely be tolerated,' are tyrannous in their nature, and subversive of the anti-slavery movement. This struck at all organization and association, and was a virtual dissolution of the Convention itself. Phillips moved the reference of the resolutions to the Business Committee. This was stoutly opposed. Clapp took the floor and spoke against the tyranny of majorities; he was not speaking there because the majority wanted to hear him, but because he was a man, and had the rights of a man; and if a man had anything to say, he had a right to say it, and that was what is meant by a [[italics]] free [[/italics]] platform. He didn't want to be hampered with Business Committees and all this machinery, but if a man had any business to propose, any resolutions to offer, or anything of that sort, let him stand up and propose it, and let the Convention act upon it if they please, or let it alone. Wendell Phillips replied, and denounced Clapp's doctrine in good set terms; it was the most detestable despotism ever attempted; according to that doctrine, when we have hired a place of meeting to discuss slavery, any man may come in here and offer resolutions, and make speeches on temperance, non-resistance, or any thing else he likes, and we must sit still and hear him, because he is a man, and has the rights of a man. Chapp replied, and said he did not mean to say that a man had a right to take up the time of the meeting without being appointed for that purpose, but if any man came into that house and had a [[italics]] self-appointment to speak [[/italics]], it was his right to be heard! And this luminous nonsense was uttered with as much gravity as if the man did not know what a fool he was making of himself. Foster opposed the reference of the resolutions, and Remond, a colored man, supported it, and finally a vote was taken and the resolutions were committed. This was the end of them so far as I heard, and as appears in the official report of the Convention. Afterwards other resolutions were proposed by the Business Committee for adoption, or to serve for texts to speakers who pursued the object of the Convention, which was to blaspheme the religion of Christ, to eulogize Mahometanism and infidelity, or any other ism, but that which has the gospel for its source. It is curious to see how some men squirm under the charge of [[italics]] Infidelity [[/italics]]. They have no objection to calling themselves [[italics]] infidels [[/italics]], and denouncing Christianity of the times as worse than infidelity. But when others call them by their right name, they fly into a dreadful passion, as if they were persecuted and slandered. So with their abuse of truth. They are fond of denouncing other men as regardless of truth, but hold the mirror up to their own faces, and they are as indignant as a harlot whose virtue is called in question. They have [[italics]] one truth [[/italics]] with which they started, viz: Slavery is an evil, and ought to be abolished. When I heard them speaking at the Convention, Pope's lines seemed to hit them exactly:-- 'There at one passage, oft you might survey A lie and truth contending for the way, And long 'twas doubtful, both so closely pent, Which first should issue through the narrow vent; At last agreed, together out they fly, Inseparable now, the truth and lie.' But the Marlboro' meeting went on so for three days and three nights. It was in some respects the great attraction of the city. No wonder they have no theatres in Boston, if such a farce as this is offered often for the entertainment of the public. Strangers kept dropping in and out, attracted by the novelty of men and women, black and white, in one medley of debate, and as the door of discussion was open to all, the listeners began to be speakers, and not content with stamping and hissing to express their opinions, they would, after the pattern of British audiences, utter their views in such laconic phrases as 'Go it Jerry,' 'Hit 'em hard,' 'down with the clergy,' &c., till on the evening that was to be the last, these expressions became so general and simultaneous, that it was very much after the manner of a mob, who all wish to be heard at the same time. At length some abominable fellow, having a disposition to introduce a little singing in the midst of so much speaking, struck up a song which I am told was common during the last election, and the multitude catching the spirit of the thing burst into full chorus in the words, 'Heigh Oh! Boatman row;' and the singing and laughing were so prodigious that none of the many orators, though struggling with the load of undelivered speeches, were able to get a hearing for a moment. The long arm of Garrison was stretched in vain. The oily Phillips strove to soothe the waves, and for a moment seemed to succeed; but again the audience disgraced themselves by abusing the liberty of speech, which was never intended to allow them all to speak at once. Clapp's doctrine of self-appointment was unanimously adopted, and every body seemed to have received a special commission to show his power of lungs; and the fit seizing so many at the same time, the confusion was confounded, till Babel was plain English of it. I was not in at this scene, but I understand that the disturbance was continued till all remonstrances and entreaties proved unavailing, and the gas lights were suddenly extinguished, making all to a color instantly, and reminding the people as they groped their way out, that if they would find light, they must seek it elsewhere than in the abode of darkness. Thus ended the New-England Anti-Slavery Convention. It should be distinctly stated that it was got up by the Garrison party, and to them belong its honor and shame. There are other abolitionists, thousands of them, who have not a particle of sympathy with the infidelity, blasphemy and slander that distinguish this gathering. But in this remark I do not meant to pay any respect, for I do not feel any, for such men as Leavitt of the Emancipator, a man so lost to all sense of shame as to write and print such stuff as the following: 'It aint for the want of logic, but cowskinning, that Dr. Fuller so abuses language. Let him [[italics]] stand under [[/italics]] slavery a little while, and he would speedily [[italics]] understand [[/italics]] it. We consider Dr. Wayland's Christian [[italics]] blarney [[/italics]] quite thrown away. If the slaveholders could understand that we [[italics]] mean [[/italics]] what we [[italics]] say [[/italics]], that would be [[italics]] moral power [[italics]] upon them, and that they can never understand until we give them a certain expectation of [[italics]] physical power.[[/italics]]' And that no doubt may remain as to what physical power he would use, this reverend editor holds the following language: [[/column 2]] [[column 3]] 'It is a little too late and too bad, to have ministers talking about [[italics]] mild language [[/italics]], when all humane men are seriously considering whether it is not their duty to push the pirates off from our plundered brethren with cold steel.' I have often heard it said that the Garrison party has a monopoly of abuse, but I prefer their spirit, and leave their measures, and their words, to those of Leavitt and his associates. There is a desperation of wickedness, a recklessness in malignity about the Emancipator men that leaves the Non-Resistant Liberator far in the rear. But the men whom I except and exonerate from all participation, direct or indirect, express or implied, in these infamous doctrines and threats of the Garrison or the Leavitt school, are [[italics]] the pastors of New-England [[/italics]]. Abolitionists they are to a man; they plead for the slave; they pray for the slave; and they would gladly suffer for the slave. There is in New-England a feeling of opposition to slavery so deep and strong, that as one man the mighty mass of virtue and talent here concentrated would be moved by any practicable plan for emancipation, and rejoice to engage heartily in the glorious work. I regret that any of the pastors lend even the sanctoin of their names to either of the men whom I have mentioned as the leaders of the two parties of technical abolitionists. Few of them do. These few are becoming fewer. And when the genuine, true-hearted philanthropy of the East and North can shake from its skirts the pollution contracted by such scenes as I have described, and by such newspapers as profess to represent, but basely mis-represent the Anti-Slavery of the North, then will the moral power of religion and humanity go forth to move on to the hearts of the South; our brethren there will hear us and feel us; they will look calmly on the subject, and light and truth will achieve a work which falsehood and fanaticism have rendered all but hopeless. In this letter, I have indulged in a freer strain of remark than may be pleasant to many of my readers; but the whole truth would require language bolder and harsher than any I have here employed. The fact is, we have been too charitable in our opinions of those Eastern reformers. We have thought them well-meaning, but misguided men. I saw and heard enough to satisfy me that many of them are bad men, men who would sell their country for power, and glut themselves in the blood of their brethren. Their spirit is infernal. Had God given them abilities equal to their desires for evil, the peace of the nation would not be maintained in an hour. The Jacobins of Paris were not more bloodthirsty than some of those 'cold-steel,' 'cowskinning' abolitionists, or 'Non-Resistant' 'moral-suasionists.' But our God is on the throne. He will make man's wrath praise Him, and before Him what are the ravings of Lloyd Garrison and Joshua Leavitt? He will take care of these restless spirits. Perhaps it will please Him to convert them, nothwithstanding all. IREN AEUS. [[horizontal line]] |: From the Boston Recorder. :| |: N. E. ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION :| MESSRS. EDITORS: Would that I had the genius of Charles Dickens, that I might adequately describe to your readers, the scenes, the characters, the grand 'break down,' and final 'burst up' of the nondescript assemblage known as the New-England Anti-Slavery Convention. To nothing can I compare this meeting, unless it be to the motley collection which filled the first vessel that floated upon the great deep. The one body met in the ark, a great vessel--the other in the Marlboro' Chapel, a great hall; in the one there were beasts clean and unclean, the male and his female, in the other were the same, speaking metaphorically; the ark was tossed upon the unquiet waters of a troubled sea,--Marlboro' Chapel was rocked to and fro by the tumultuous shouts and clamors of the multitude assembled within its walls. But here the comparison must stop--I know not the scenes that transpired within the wooden walls of Noah's craft; if his passengers were at all as quarrelsome, ill-mannered, and brutal, as were most of the speakers in Marlboro' Chapel, the old gentleman must have had a most troublesome time during the continuance of the deluge. This grand conclave which assembled in solemn convention to devise means to enlighten the benighted inhabitants of New-England, upon the matter of American slavery, was presided over by William Lloyd Garrison, who demeaned himself, for aught we saw, as a gentleman should. One M'Clure, a fresh imported Scotchman, seemed on the whole, in the absence of Abby Folsom and Silas Lamson, so be the greatest mountebank of the squad of the faithful. He is a Scotch mechanic--is gifted with much comic power--and hates the clergy with a perfect hatred; he will, however, make a popular speaker when he shall have learnt that the clergy in this country (whatever may be true of them in his native land) are not to be classed in the same category with pirates and murderers. It is not my intention to particularise the various speakers--some of them are worthy of commendation, especially Lunsford Lane and another uneducated colored man, who, for their good sense and good manners, should put to the blush the educated black-guards with whom they condescend to associate. The last session of the convention on Thursday evening, presented some performances not 'announced in the bills,' for which the public ought to thank the managers. The house was filled; the young men and boys were on hand in large numbers to see the fun. Rev. Adin Ballou, an amiable, sensible man, was the first speaker; with moderation and calmness he addressed the assembly; he was not the man for the audience, the young men and boys expecting that they were, as always heretofore, to be treated to a good quantity of fun and sport, became impatient with Mr. Ballou, and ever and anon cried out 'Foster,' 'Foster;' he was the man for them. Foster wrote the work, entitled, 'The American Church a Brotherhood of Thieves.' He is the man to make music at an abolition convention, and the rowdies know it, and therefore they called him out. Mr. Ballou was obliged to give way; Foster did not come forward, but a man as good, or more properly speaking, no worse than he, came forward; one Parker Pillsbury, it proved to be. I saw this fellow in an abolition meeting about a year since; he has apparently lost about 75 per cent of his malignity since that time; he may eventually become quite a decent man. He commenced speaking quite good naturedly, stated many interesting facts, and told many truths, though with a wanton disregard to the feelings, opinions, and prejudices of his audience, whom he should have endeavored to conciliate rather than irritate. He went on quite well for a while, but at last unfortunately, threw out a sneer at the protestant church; his words were, 'Shame on your protestantism!" He might as well have roused a young earthquake, as to have thrown out such a sneer. The Native American feeling burst forth with overwhelming power, and effectually ruled the meeting. Pillsbury endeavored to proceed in his remarks; the audience cried out, 'Take back what you have said.' He would not do it, and whenever he attempted to speak, the cry was reiterated; the great audience cheered continually, snatches of songs were sung with a chorus round the extensive galleries, a hundred heels beat time against the seats, making all together as delightful a scene of confusion as the most crazy bedlamite could wish. Mr. Pillsbury, not being able to get a hearing, Wendell Philips appealed to the audience for their attention. He stated that he was a Boston boy; (the more shame for him!) he thought the people in the gallery who were making the racket could not be Bostonians, but must be [[italics]] country people! [[/italics]] the boors! they had just come down, and had never been taught in the [[/column 3]] [[column 4]] school of good manners in which Mr. Phillips and his conveys are such wonderful proficients. Mr. Phillips eulogized Mr. Pillsbury, and the audience renewed the uproar and confusion. Pillsbury again took the platform, and stood facing the tumultuous assembly with all the quiet dignity and gravity of a well known long-eared animal. The hour of ten arrived, and in the midst of the clamors of the audience (which had now continued three fourths of an hour,) a motion was made to adjourn, and the convention did adjourn without delay. So 'broke down' and 'burst up' the great New-England Anti-Slavery Convention of 1845. The young men and boys of Boston have had their annual treat, and doubtless were quite well satisfied with their entertainment. The ancient Spartans caused their slaves to become intoxicated, that their children, by seeing the folly and disgrace of drunkenness, might hate and avoid the vice of intemperance. The annual New-England Anti-Slavery Convention is useful in furnishing the young people of Boston a most impressive lesson of the folly and guilt of prostituting talents, of stifling the best feelings of the heart, of trifling with one's own reputation and character, of becoming, in fine, what a man does when he abandons the first principles of common sense, common decency, and common morality. | A MAN ABOUT TOWN. :| [[horizontal line]] From the Exeter News-Letter. THE ULTRA ABOLITION REFORMERS. The New-England Anti-Slavery Convention has been in session some days. This meeting is under the control of the most ultra abolitionists, such as Garrison, Phillips, and their associates; and its proceedings have been disgraceful to a civilized community. There is nothing valuable and praiseworthy on earth--there is nothing sacred in heaven--that has escaped the gross libels, the loathsome abuse, and the detestable lying of this mockery of a meeting in behalf of the slave. The Clergy, the Church, religion in every form it has appeared on earth or in heaven, has come under their polluted attacks. Our country, our forefathers, the Union, all that is valuable and worthy of preservation among us, they would trample under foot. The inmates of the lowest rum-shops and brothels in the city, would be ashamed, and hold down their heads in disgust at their wretched slang and low abuse. What do these people mean? What would they do? Carry out their principles--reduce society to the condition they would have it--and there would be a hell on earth. No man could walk the streets by day, without being in danger of having his throat cut and his dwelling fired. They in favor of the slave! They are doing more to rivet his chains and perpetuate Slavery than the Slaveholder can do; and the bitterest enemies of the slave are, at this moment, rejoicing at their conduct. They know that their rashness and folly and wickedness are doing everything to retard emancipation and thwart the efforts of the wise, consistent and sincere friends of the slave. Who does not see that the moment a movement is made at the North, or any where else against slavery, the friends of slavery attempt to identify the movement and the men with this reckless and unscrupulous knot of fools and villains combined; supposing that when that is done, they are safe, and the movement is dead. They too often succeed in this way and avert every blow aimed at them. It is a burning shame that here, in this city, rendered classic by the blood of the brave and good men of the revolution--the City of Faneuil Hall and Bunker Hill--individuals should be found of a character that the leaders of this convention assume and glory in. What American, what man, before these reckless fanatics, has ever dared, or thought of attempting to heap abuse and contumely on the spotless character of the immortal Washington?--a name, and the deeds of whose fearless life, slaves and freemen, despots and serfs, kings and subjects, the savage as well as the civilized, all classes, all men, in all countries, have held sacred. M. [[dividing line]] THE N. E. ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. The New-England Anti-Slavery Convention held its meetings in Marlboro' Chapel, Boston, on the 27th, 28th, and 29th of May. This body is composed principally of the ultra-reformers of the Garrison school--non-resistants, disunionists, anti-Sabbath, anti-church, and anti-ministry men, who have tried to make a pack-horse of abolition, and to load it down with all sorts of monstrosities, heresies, infidelities, anties, &c. Among this class of reformers are found some earnest and eloquent spirits, who always command attention, and who fiery oratory is not without effect. Whatever may be their errors, such men as Wendell Phillips, Wm. Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass will always be heard when they choose, to speak and they speak so much [[italics]] truth [[/italics]], that even their errors may seem truth to undiscriminating minds, and thus obtain a currency which, in their unmixed state, they would struggle for in vain. No small part of the time of the Convention was spent in attacks upon the church and the clergy. These are represented as bitter and vindictive, to the last degree--and we can well believe that they were, from what we know of the men who made them.-- [[italics]] Hartford Christian (!) Freeman. [[/italics]] [[dividing line]] From the New-York Evangelist TRUE AND FALSE ABOLITIONISTS We are surprised to learn that our remarks last week upon the betrayal of freedom by certain self-styled abolitionists, are not thought to have been distinctly enough appropriated to the faction, known as the Garrison, non-resistant party. If we did mistake in this way, it was simply because we did not think it possible that we could be supposed to include in such a condemnation, the large and most respectable body of orderly, law-abiding, peaceful friends of the slave who, though claiming the title of abolitionists, are as distinct as light from darkness, from the mere handful of strange spirits, of whom Mr. Garrison and Abby Kelley form the nucleus, and who do not number two thousand, men, women, and maniacs all told, and who are not abolitionists in any sense, but have stolen the cloak of a good name the better to carry out their radical, no-government, anti-ministry, anti-church, and anti-Sabbath designs. We are happy to say--what is well known--that the great body of anti-slavery men--those whose convictions of duty have sought an expression in a distinct political organization, as well as that still greater number connected with existing parties, who as earnestly seek the overthrow of slavery, are as firmly opposed to the whole cut and drift of the Garrison party as we; and are no more responsible for their antics, or their ravings, than they are for those of the Mormons, or of the Fifth Monarchy men. We regret that the misunderstanding should have occurred, and think it cannot have been general; for we should be far enough from imputing to the real friends of the slave, the misdeeds of men and women like these. The views of abolitionists, as distinguished from the radicals, are summarily set forth in the following resolutions adopted at the late anniversary of the Eastern N.Y. Anti-Slavery Society, which we should have published before, but for want of room. They express the views of the Liberty Party men; we know they express with equal precision, the views of the great body of abolitionists in the country: [[dividing line]] Resolved, That we believe that the Constitution of the United States, when interpreted in that benignity of spirit which its own language justifies, is an anti-slavery document in its principles and tendencies. [[/column 4]] [[column 5]] Resolved, That we hold the Union as a grand bond of public and private faith, too which we are solemnly pledged, and which we will not and cannot recall; and whether slavery is in or out, we will stand by the Union, for its purification and exaltation, being determined to employ our entire moral and political power to the overthrow of slavery, in all and every shape, by which we can constitutionally reach the same through the ballot-box. Resolved, That we regard the attempt of secession, nullification, or dissolution of this confederacy, as high treason to the best hopes of mankind, and as the most wretched of all antidotes by which to exonerate ourselves from the crime of slavery. Resolved, That it is our solemn duty to sustain this Union, as the most efficient and powerful means for the extirpation of slavery, and further to show our love to our cherished colored brother, whom we will never desert, for we owe him deliverance as a duty, and we will hold to the Union as the means of its accomplishment; and not turn our backs upon him as a cheap mode of being discharged from an unpleasant duty, by alleging the criminality of his master as an excuse for our want of humanity. Resolved, That we deeply deplore the want of a zealous co-operation in behalf of the American Slave, on the part of many of the churches in our country, and that we shall hail that as a blessed day when the churches shall discharge their entire duty to the outcast bondmen of America; but we are not prepared to believe that unmeasured vituperation or bitter condemnation will hasten the day in which they shall see or do their duty. Resolved, That it is no part of the mission of the Liberty Party to overturn churches, vote for slaveholders, or dissolve this Union; but it is their distinct undertaking, by all moral, legal, lawful, and constitutional powers, to drive slavery from this land. [[double horizontal line]] SELECTIONS. [[horizontal line]] CONDITION AND POLICY OF THE WHIG PARTY. TO THE EDITOR OF THE BOSTON COURIER: In my last communication, I endeavored to dispose of the 'Liberty' objections to the proposal I made, that the Whig party should take anti-slavery ground. I promised in that to notice in another communication the 'Whig' objections to the same course. I should have done this sooner; although I do not much regret the delay, inasmuch as the events of the past few weeks have made the truth and importance of the proposition still more obvious. In my last, I intimated that I should examine the position assumed by Dudley Selden, the excandidate for the mayorality of New-York. The lapse of time, however, and the signal defeat that gentleman encountered, seem to have diminished somewhat the importance to be attached to any thing he might have advanced. Besides, others, whose opinions will have greater weight, have advanced the same sentiments, and are equally worthy of a reply. I will, however, quote a single passage: 'If, from any cause,' said Mr. Selden, referring to Abolition, 'it should manifest itself again in this country, those who apprehend danger from it would find me shoulder to shoulder with them, following out their effort for its final extinguishment.' Similar sentiments have been urged again and again, in the New-York Courier and Enquirer.--With less violence and brutality, very nearly the same ground has been taken by the United States Gazette. And even the New-York Tribune, with all its kindness of feeling and philanthropy of its editor, uses the following language: 'While, therefore, we ever expect to be, as we ever have been, openly hostile to slavery, and anxiously desirous of its extinction, we cannot engage in any political crusade against it, which shall involve or require the concurrent action of the Federal government.' The plain and simple meaning of all this I suppose to be, that, in all future legislation, so far as it shall depend upon the Whig party, nothing is to be done for the slave. Texas shall be opposed because it has become a party measure, and many at the South will unite with them in so doing. But no new mode of action is contemplated, not even such as is permitted by our constitutional rights. According to them, the connection of the general government with slavery must not be disturbed; and so far as that exists, we at the North must be content to bear our proportion of the guilt and odium of the accursed and cruel system. The same party lines are to be drawn; the same party organization continued. Our platform is to be sufficiently broad to embrace both the North and the South, and on which may stand the most ultra pro-slavery men in the land. This I suppose to be the real idea which they entertain, and which they wish to convey; and supposing so, I wish to suggest two considerations that convince me that such a course is entirely inconsistent with the best interests of the party. I waive the question of the right or wrong of such a course, and wish to speak as a party man, who is sincerely anxious to ascertain that course which shall best promote the success of that cause, which, as Whigs, we have near at heart. 1. Such a course of policy is entirely inconsistent with true self-respect. I believe that it is generally admitted here at the North, that the action of the South has been eminently characterized by an entire and wanton disregard of the rights and feelings of the free States. Combined and ever ready to act together on the subject of slavery, they have contrived to maintain a paramount control over the legislature of the country for the last half century. This is the testimony of some of our most eminent and amicable public men, and I shall not stop to adduce evidence in support of the proposition. Even the United States Gazette speaks of their 'high-handed measures,' and their 'insulting tone,' in the very article in which he gives utterance to the sentiment to which I have alluded. In every thing pertaining to slavery, they have, indeed, pursued 'high-handed measures,' and spoken in a most 'insulting tone.' They have trampled on the right of petition--grossly insulted our Adams and Giddings, and every other Northern man, that dared to raise his voice in favor of freedom, until, maddened by lust of power and gain, they have protrasted the Constitution, banishing our official agents from their territory, and forcing upon us a foreign State, with the avowed design of strengthening their domestic institutions, and rendering more secure the system of slavery; so that our government is made to stand forth as legislating anew for slavery, instead of simply abiding by the 'compromises of the Constitution,' which were made in days of danger and darkness. Such has been their courses; one of wrong, insult, and outrage; and in this respect, Southern Whigs have been little better than their brethren in the opposite party. Many of them did, indeed, vote against Texas, but it was on party and professed constitutional grounds, and their support had to be bought by silence on the part of Northern members upon the subject of slavery. And the singular spectacle was exhibited of a three weeks' debate in the United States Senate, upon one of the most important, the most fearful moral question ever brought before that body, without hardy a single allusion to the moral bearings of the point at issue; and all this silence was necessary to keep Southern votes. And immediately after the question of Texas was settled, and they were called to vote upon the Constitution of Florida, these same Southern Whigs were the most forward and the most violent in their defence of the clause which gives power to the new State to incarcerate the free colored citizens of the North, who should enter their ports.--Such has been their course. For slavery they are willing to sacrifice everything--Constitution, party-ties, the obvious demands of friendship, and even the common courtesies of life. And now shall we hold their political alliance and assistance, thus rendered, as dearer than our rights, our virtue, and the common prosperity of the country? Such pusillanimity is too Rank, it smells to Heaven. [[/column 5]] [[column 6]] Whigs of the North, will you never have done with truckling subserviency? Are you willing, for less than a mess of pottage, to sell the birthright your fathers left you? It was slavery that hurled your Adams from the Chair of State, and it has claimed and held its seat there ever since. Did your fathers fight the battles of the Revolution? And do you breathe the pure air of a land of liberty? And will you stoop so low? Then complain not if the high-minded and the free-born sons of honored sires leave your ranks, and refuse to join in political action with a party, when so much is to be borne, and so little to be gained. 2. Such a course is perfectly suicidal, and cannot be adopted with any hope of success. At least, such is my opinion. As I remarked in my former communication, the Democratic party have run a race for the favor of the slavocracy, with which we can never successfully compete. Their sympathies harmonize much more nearly than ours can. Besides, the Whig party has done too much for freedom ever to be received cordially into the arms of the 250,000 slaveholders, that have for so long ruled the country.--They have voted for the rights of petition--against Texas; while the stanch Whig States of Vermont and Massachusetts have said and done too many things for liberty to be relished by the South. They will not cast us in form from their fellowship. They are too shrewd for that. They will toy and dally with us--throw out a sop here and there--yield on some points, where yielding will exhibit a show of magnanimity; but which will not compromise in the least, the grand point of interest and importance; nor will they ever extend the hand of cordial fellowship to the Whig party. We can then have little encouragement to make any great sacrifice of principle or voters at the North, for the sake of gaining or keeping in with the South. But that we shall lose voters, as well as sacrifice principle, by the adoption of such a course as will conciliate and keep our strength at the South, I think, is most evident. By so doing, we shall cut ourselves off from all the anti-slavery feeling of the North. That this is beginning to pervade the free States, and becoming an important element of feeling and action, all must admit. Its existence defeated jus in the last campaign, and the events of the last six months have done nothing to diminish it. There is some little humanity, some little sense of right, and some little self-respect remaining,--and all that is arrayed against the system and support of slavery--and that party that holds an equivocal position, such as we must occupy if we still continue our party relations with the South, must not only sacrifice the strength that that feeling would secure, but it must find that feeling arrayed in opposition to it. And that it will find that feeing arrayed against it, we may assuredly anticipate, if we so continue. The organization of the Whig party never was, and never can be, as stringent as that of the Democratic party. There is too much conscience and principle. And where it has been measurably strong in times past, in this respect, it is becoming weaker and weaker every year. We are beginning to learn the tactics of the enemy, and it would not be strange if we should apply them to our own course of action. A few slaveholders have not only governed the politics of their own States, but those of the national government, by their single devotion to the interests of slavery. The friends of liberty will thank them for that lesson, and make their own application. The 60,000 'liberty' votes of '44, much as we may deplore the result they indirectly occasioned, have taught us a lesson we do well to remember. To disregard it, is as little creditable to our statesmanship as to our honesty and humanity. For I think we may be sure that the same power will be used with more and more effect, until returning sanity makes us see our true policy and adopt it. And why should we disregard it? What has the South ever done for us, that we are willing to sacrifice so much for her? And what is there in anti-slavery that we so much dread? Admit that Abolitionists have done some wrong things; admit that in their combinations they have exhibited folly instead of wisdom--it is unworthy the dignity of a party that numbers nearly a million and a half of voters, to refuse to take a position to which patriotism, humanity, virtue, and even their own part interests invite them, because a very inconsiderable portion of their fellow-citizens made mistakes and pursued a right object in a wrong way. But, however, we may feel, I hold it to be a fact of which there can be no reasonable doubt, that unless the Whig party will take ground that abolitionists can consistently occupy, they cannot succed. The encroachments of the slave power are becoming more fearful every year, and nothing can prevent the formation of a free party to resist these encroachments. And every thing betokens that that day is not far removed from the present moment. The events of the past year have quickened the movements that before were more gradual. The amazement and alarm which the annexation of Texas has occasioned, still continue, and they will continue and increase as new developments of that terrible transaction unfold themselves. Other events are thickly clustered around us. The mustering squadrons of Liberty and Slavery are rapidly taking their positions. The great religious sects of our country are dividing on this question. The powerful denominations of the Methodists and the Baptists have already done it. The Presbyterian Church, (at least the new school division,) will soon follow this example. If now the religious sects feel compelled, for conscience sake, to sunder ties so sacred and binding, and break from associations so much endeared as are those that religion secures, can you expect that political ties will hold them long to the car of slavery, to do the bidding of those who would sell their votes for Southern influence? You may expect it, but you will be disappointed. This is a somewhat new feature in the aspect of the times. But I can assure politicians that it is a feature it will be madness in them to disregard. With the weak hold which the Whig party has upon the rowdyism of the country, if they array against themselves the religious sentiment of the land, their cause is worse than desperate. Nor are the events which are occurring out of the country of a tendency to make us hesitate. England's great power is arrayed against slavery. France has just taken an incipient but important step in the same direction. Where now shall the Whig party be found? Shall it not fall in with the natural tendency of the spirit and events of the day, and thus lay the deep foundation of future and permanent success? It is an important question. Let those who would guide the Whig party heed well the answer they give. I know there are obstacles in the way of such a course. And what great and good object ever was accomplished without encountering obstacles? There are slaveholders here at the North. There are others with sympathize with them. The commercial interest may, as a whole, perhaps, be regarded as against my proposition. As a necessary consequence, the city press may be expected to oppose it, at least as a general thing. Cliques may be against it. And these combined influences are strong, but they are not omnipotent. They may control conventions and secure nominations--as they did in '44--but they cannot control votes. The rank and file of the party, (at least at the North,) would have much prefered the ticket, I nominated in '42, of 'McLean and Frelinghuysen'--but the professed politicians had the power to thwart their wishes, but not enough to elect their candidates. If the same influences are to succeed in '48, you may count upon a similar result. There are scores if not hundreds of thousands that will never vote for slavery nor with slavery again. They have 'sworn off' from all further participation with the accursed thing. True, they are not the men who are acquainted with the wire-pulling of party machinery--they are not prominent in your caucuses and conventions; but they are men of common sense and common honesty, and they [[/column 6]]
