Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-06-28 00:00:00

FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT

THE NEXT PRESIDENCY : PRELIMINARIES OF THE
CONTEST; MULTIPLICITY OF CANDIDATES THREA-
TENED; PARTIES DISUNITED; CANDIDATES WANTED
TO BE KNOWN. THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW : ITS
OPERATION IN OHIO ; ITS CONSTITUTIONALITY
ESTABLISHED ; EXULTATION OF THE SLAVERY
PARTY. PROSTITUTION OF OFFICIAL PATRONAGE TO
PARTY PURPOSES : THE PRUNING-HOOK THREAT-
ENED. FRAUDS IN THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMEN'I' :
OFFICIAL CORRUPTION : PARTY JOBBING THE
CAUSE. CORPORATION DELINQUENCIES IN NEW
YORK : URGENT WANT OF REFORM. THE ITALIANS
OF NEW YORK AND THE WAR: CAUTION AG tINST
THEIR VIOLATION OF THE NEUTRALITY LAWS.
The preliminaries of the Presidential contest are
becoming so extensive and so decisive in their
character, that the time is apparently almost come
when the conflict itself may be said to have already
begun. And yet are the several parties, and sections
of parties, still at sixes and sevens. Candidates
would seem to be as " plenty as blackberries," could we
believe half of what is bruited abroad every day. But
still is there no candidate actually accredited yet, by
either the Republicans or the Democrats. The States
are, many of them, inclined each to have a candidate
of its own. Virginia has set the example; and, says
a leading journal, "at this rate we shall probably
have two or three more new opposition candidates
directly after the August elections of Kentucky and
Tennessee, whether the opposition be defeated or
successful, and half a dozen more with our October
and November State elections. The latest available
democrat fished up is Gen. Lane, familiarly called
Old Jo. Lane,' of Oregon. We shouldn't wonder
if some admiring friend were next to trot out JudeT
Cradlebaugh, of Utah, or Governor Cumming.
why not ? In the interval to the juggling part,
conventions of 1860, the field is open for all entries',
and the choice of every party is an open question.
Bring out your candidates." Yes—let the candidates
be brought out • let the people know who they are
to be. It is high time, according to established
practice. The people always like to have a full year
or more to think about it,—and, indeed, if need be,
to fight about it also.
The Fugitive Slave Law has had another triumph ;
and the cause of liberty and humanity another
reverse. In a recent instance of escape of slaves to
Ohio, where they were rescued from the clutches of
their pursuers, the rescuers were tried, convicted, and
imprisoned for the offence. They then applied to
the Supreme Court of Ohio for a discharge, on the
plea of the unconstitutionality of the Fugitive Slave
Law, for the violation of which they had been made
to answer. The Attorney General of the State, it
appears, earnestly argued the case in behalf of the
prisoners; but three out of five judges constituting
the Court dismissed the application, substantially
making the following decree
"1. That the federal constitution guarantees to the owner
of an escaped slave the right of reclamation.
" 2. That the citizen who intentionally interferes in behalf
of the rescue of an escaped slave from his rightful owner is
guilty of a violation of the federal constitution.
"3. That this constitutional obligation has been repeatedly
affirmed by the Legislature, by Congress, and by the
decisions of our federal and State courts.
"4. That if the question is not thus put beyond the
private personal views of judges,' &c., then there is no
limit and no restraint upon judges making at any time,
and under any circumstances, their own individual opinions
.'bitrary interpreters of the constitution.'
5. That, if after more than sixty years of acquiescence
iy all departments of the national and State governments,
in the power of Congress to provide for the punishment of
rescuers of escaped slaves, that power is to be disregarded,
and all laws which may be passed by Congress on this
subject from henceforth are to be persistently resisted end
nullified, the work of revolution should not be begun by
the conservators of the public peace.' "
These views, in such a quarter, have been hailed
with exultation by the slavery party. It is signifi-
cantly observed of the decision, in slavery-sympathis-
an• circles, that " a revolutionary collision between
the federal authorities and the State authorities of
Ohio has thus been happily prevented ; and the
conspicuous example of the binding obligations of
the supreme law of the land can hardly fail to
produce its good results on every State of the
Union, to the confusion of nullifiers and revolution-
ists of every section, hue, stripe, and degree." Such
is the way in which everything is treated that would
go to discourage slavery. They who seek to
emancipate the slaves—and they who attempt to
succour them when they happen, by any means, to
succeed in emancipating themselves—are one and all
denounced as revolutionists and anarchists. So little
hope is there, therefore, of ever doing justice to the
enslaved and oppressed negro-race in this famous
land of liberty.
As a practical illustration of the prostitution of
official patronage to party purposes, and of the idea
which the public journals do not scruple to entertain,
and to advocate, of its being all right and fair so to
prostitute it, we have the New York Herald thus
speaking of the employment of what it styles " the
pruning-hook" among the office-holders in that city :
—" According to our latest advices from Washing-
ton, we may expect before long some pretty hot
work among our high and mighty federal office-
holders on this island. It appears that the discovery
has been made at Washington that some of the most
mischievous instruments among our New York
democracy, against the administration and the
harmony of the party, are nestled among the fat
pickings of our city Post-office, Assay-office, Sur-
veyor's-office, Navy Agent's-office, and United States
Marshal's-office, and that these offending parties arc
to be hauled up, tried and punished according to
their deserts." Then, alluding to the report. of some
of the officials at Washington having been acting
independently, it is added,—" The President should
at least be master of his household, and all unruly
and treacherous servants, of high or low degree,
should be walked out of the kitchen. We hope 11(
will commence the work in this city without furthe
delay. The sickly condition of the party here cal!
for a thorough purging." It is thus altogether a
affair of party. That is to say, all the stlordir

officials =Post-office clerks, Assay-office porters,
Surveyors' runners, Navy Agents' messengers, all
must be party-hacks, or else the several departments
in which they serve must be thoroughly purged of
them

Such being the case, is it to be wondered at that,
as respects the Post-office, it should have 'to be stated,
as I see it is, that " some astounding developements
of frauds upon the department have recently taken
place, which go far to account for the deficiency in
the revenues of that. branch of the Government." It
seems there is strong suspicion, that. a system of
coimterfeiting.the postage stamp's, and of washing off
the defacing. mark from the' used ones, has been
practised, and .that in this way the Post-office is
ly robhad, of not less than a .million of dollars;
tt
-e how a. well-informed and influential public
iccounfi for such rascality The fact is,
the corruption of our politicians, and so
the peoplc: become as to whom they
public employment has become
—1 of rasealS. There are two
.aseality gets into public
'in is through tly

throug

1 wnien
One of t

employment

clubs and organisations, where it lends
Wistehl tol all
kinds al
of party services, and is rewarded
in some office where it can labour for the ail3pubalciee
profit at the public expense. The other is
rascal is
courts. of justice,. through which the fellow r
provided with a place in the penitentiary, where he
s
can hammer stone or do some other labour equally
at the public expense and the public profit. Thus
rascality comes to the surface among us, and on
starting in life it is an even chance whether it will
get into public office or the penitentiary." Such is
the way in which the public offices are supplied
under the republican system of the Unite
United States.
And how can it well be otherwise, where it is alto-
gether a matter' of bargain and sale, under the guise
of party !
If we descend from the Federal Union to the
separate States, or from them to the individual
cities therein, it 1.4 much the same. The canker of