Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-09-08
Martin Van Bnren'S Letter.

than that which we had before us at the time
we penned our leader Of last week, we now
have it in Mr.. Van Buren's Letter of Ac-
ceptance," as we must call it out Of courtesy,
although it is not in fact a letter of accept
ance. He was unwilling to consent that his
name should be presented by the Barnburn-
ers at their Utica Convention as ihe candi-
date of that party, but s%ignifed to his friends,
that if they felt it was desirable TO use it, he
had no right TO forbid them. This is the po-
sition he now ~sustains in relation 10 the Free
Soil Convention at Buffalo, for, after refer
ring 10 the Utica matter in his letter of ac--
ceptance, he explicitly declares:
"Hs in this firm that my name, as a
candidate for the Presidency, has been brought
before the people. Occupying this position,
1 shall feel myself honored by the support
of an assemblage so enlightened and patriotic,
and so devoted To the maintenance of the
great principle we contend for, as that in
whose behalf you have addressed me-"
Under such circumstances no pledges can
with %propriety be required Of him, and he
gives none; although he freely expresses his
views in relation to The various doctrines
embraced in the Buffalo resolutions. IT,.
however, requires a considerable effort of the
imagination to conceive, that, under the cir
cumstances, he will enter heart and soul into
the movement as defined by the platform Of
principles adopted by the Convention which
nominated him. 1t is true, that in speaking
of that platform he says:
sit breathes the right spirit, and presents.
a political chart uiH the explanations 1 am
about to make, | can, in good faith, adopt and
sustain"
If his explanations are not too much like
the late Liberty party's former explanations
of the pro-slavery clauses of the u. s.. Con-
s%titution, it will be well for his anti-slavery
supporters. He attributes the present move
ment upon the subject of slavery in the
Northern States, to a desire to uphold and
enforce the policy of the fathers in regard to.
that institution. This policy he sums up as
consisting-in addition to the contemplated
prohibition of the foreign slave ,rade-in Sc
curity against the extension of slavery into
free territories, the admission that slavery in
the States is wholly dependent upon State
laws, and ga spirit Of considerable forJearance.
to,cards The Institution" where Congress has,
power to destroy it.
Is this the platform of principles of which
political abolitionists have boosted so much =
Is this the policy they design to uphold and
enforce? What is there anti.slavery in such.
a policy! Nothing! 1t is opposed to sla-.
very extension, and that is all. No abolition
list ever yet talked about "a spirit of consi-
derate forbearance " towards that sum of all
v~illanies, the hell born system of slavery, no
matter where located. The cry of every true
lover of freedom is "Away with this
policy, no compromise-no forbearance to-,
ward the accursed thing.
The resolution of the convention declaring
that it is the duty of the Federal Government
, to relieve itself of the responsibility Of the
existence Of slavery where it has the power
! TO legislate, when read in the light Of Van
t Buren's explanation, means, that it should
4, exercise "a spirit of ccnsiderate forbearance
h towards the institution in localities where il
was placed under the control of Congress-"
t And this spirit of forbearance and %concilia-
lion which he so emphaiically approves, TX
tends yet further; for, after referring to the
aversion with which the North regards slave.
ry, he says:
"At the South the feeling is very different.
because the culture OF their minds and dispo-
II %sitions, and the force of habit, have an oppo-
site tendency. This known, and for a sea.
son, al least, incurable diversity of feeling
and opinion should beget a spirit of %concilia.
lion, and i~nculcate mutual forbearance ir
y speech and action. This duty has doubles.
=. been occasionally lost sight Of, on both sides
but it cannot be denied that The depaItur,
I from it has been the greatest on the part o
1. our Southern brethren"
e. We infer from this, that Van Buren's in
f%uence, should he again visit the Whit
u House, will be used to temper the impetuosi
~ ty of some of the Southern. members in thei
sc defence of slavery, to check the too arden
~ zeal of the North, to restrain within tn,
. bounds of propriety the opposition of a Gid
y dings, a Hale, and a Mann, and teach then
~ to speak of man-stealing in the language o
% Cancellation and considerate forbearance.
- Again referring to the platform, he says:
"The sixth resolution embraces the sub
y ice. of slavery in the District of Columbia
and | observed in it a generality OF expires
sion, in respect TO the lime Uhen, and tn
circumstances under Which, it was the opinion
of the Convention that it should be abolish
ed, which has not been usual on the part O
the friends of immediate action. Most re
AncLinn and nhllalihLnnic minds live in LII