Windham County Democrat. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1836-1853, 1849-06-06
From the Vermont Patriot.
Nutnhcr =.

4
solved and that by the acts of the South. 1t & not
TO be disguised that any party which exists in the
North and South as one party, acting under acom-
ns og1 me- vspn S ena 9nq!ng ~ gpS& front,
assume an attitude of opposition anti slavery
movements; on this question Of slavery the South
are united. Tint swallows up all other considera-
tons. 1t is the paramount interest. Everything !
else must yield to it, Shareholders will not brook
antslavery sentiments an-slaVery action in any
candidate, in whose nomination they have voice, if
the Office TO which he is nominated can WELD any
important influence against slavery. That institu-
ton is their greatest household god. 1t must be in
violate.
1t is also true that the South have furnished, in
times past strong support TO the leading measures
of the democratic party. But so far rs the demOc
racy of the North concerned, that support has
been obtained at the expense of subserviency, to a
greater or less extent, TO the demands and exacons
of slavery. The sympatles of the great democrat
ic heart of the free states, with anslavery efforts
have been kept down. by the memorable demands of
the shareholders, who have supported democratic
measures-would fratcrnize with the democracy of
the North in their support-but 1t was only upon tho
condition that the democratic party should stand
guard against the nroads of antl-savery sentiment
and measures. And so strong was the democratic
feeling to carry forward and sustain the favorite
measures of that party that they Yielded though re-
luctanty, TO the demands of the South in regard to
slavery They yielded almost everything on that
point. The South were not satisfied with the posi-
lion the party assumed in and ont of Congress, but
they demanded that the administration should be in
the hands of democratic Shareholders. The power
must be under the control of the slave interest. The
donineering, say insolence, of the sayellold
ing portion of the party became SO open and often
sive, that the democrats of the free states began
long since to grow FESTIVE under it. The treatment
of Mr. Van Buren, in 1914, came near producing an
open rupture but they yielded for the sake of har-
mony and success, & gave up the reins TO the slave
holding majority The darling scheme of that mi
norty, at that time, was the annexation OF Texas
Though that measure was repudlated as democrat
ic measure by many of the ablest and best men of
the democratic party of the North, they forced it
upon the party, unjust and offensive it the
feelings of the great mass OF voters i'll the free states
| The consequence of the annexation OF Texas was
the war with MeXico-and the consequence of the
war with Mexico was, that the United States became
the proprietors of the immense domain, included in
New Mexico and California. am now dealing on
:. " with facts do not stop to inquire whether the
annexation and the war UNSUITABLE acts the
part of the United States by the law of nations or
not My opinion is, that they were. But
whether they were not, the consequences upon
the nation and upon the democratic party were the
same. That they both grew out of the influence of
slavery in the politics and policy Of the nation,
have no doubt. New Mexico and California having
been coded to tue United States, and become part
of their property, and subject to the legislative
troll of Congress- the watchlu and grasping and
imperious spirit of slavery, manifested itself imme-
diately in the claims it made that Congress, in its
IegIsiaIVe
short of prohibiting the introduction and existence
of slavery there The champions of the slave pow
err Immediately claimed that slavery was great ma
tiona interest much as freedom was and that it
had the same right to plant itself in this newly ac-
quired domain and establish there its own peculiar
laws, as freedom had. 1t did not make the demand
Z idly. 1t at once set about the accomplishment of
the purpose of bringing the nation to acquiescence
in this claim and to acknowledgment of its right
fitness This object must be gained, not by an hon
est and fair submission of the question to Congress-
as the appropriate tribunal to decide the matter and
settle it definitely but by making the influence Of the
great slave interest felt in moulding the politics
Of the different political parties TO its wishes. =
The leading political influences in the democrat
ic party at the South, were, without delay brought
to bear upon this question. The political conven-
tons of the South assumed the strange and ultra
ground ",,nder no political necessity" would they sup
port any candidate for President or Vice President
who sanctioned the doctrines of the Wilmot Provi-
SO. Not only the conventions OF the extreme South
assumed this attitude, but even Virginia, the moth
er of Presidents-the defender OF the old republi-
can faith-Virginia, rich in the fame of her great
apostles of democracy and liberty and having in her
bosom the grave of Jefferson, the immortal author
, of the Declaration of independence and the Ordi-
nance of 1857, on both of which freedom baZed in
= lines of light-even Virginia, stood in the of this
crusade against liberty and demanded of the free
3 democrats of the north that they should support no
man for President who did not distinctly repudiae
the well established doctrine that Congress had the
Y that Congress ought Immediately to exercise that
2 power. The South having assumed this attitude,
/ those in the democratic ranks who asplred to the
s presidency at once that they must "worshp or
de,"-that the presidency was TO be reached only
by passing the ordeal which slavery had erected in
the presidential path. To ambitious man this
i presenting fearful alternative II was asking
of the democracy of the North and its leading men,
! what the democracy of the South had no right TO
ask 1t was sort of robber demand Of hOur integri-
ty or yoT hj'-the making OF which ought to have
placed them without the pale OF determination and
alliance with freemen. But the demand was I'M
blushngly and mperlously made and pertinaciously
i insisted on and the champions OF the democracy OF
: the North yielded to it, | say this more in sorrow
than in anger | repeat, it was fearful alternative
j. 10 place before an aspiring man. 10 yield TO the
if requirement seemed 10 place the presidency in his
grasp-to refuse YIELD TO destroy all the cherished
# hopes and anticpations of his life, so far as this
If great prize was concerned.
This demand was made not only with regard tC
n the democratic party and It's leaders, but also prac
IS ticaly TO the wing party and its leaders, at the
n North. The slave power threw its whole gigantic
strength into the political SCALE defeat the require
s mens of freedom. The eminent wing statesman o
l. the West who bod hsan tho idol of that party fol
O years and whose name had been the raying word il
their ranks through almost all their stern conflicts
v with the democracy, was suspected OF having some
aspirations for freedom at the expense OF slavery ant
TO be willing that immense territory uncursed by
the presence and influence of slavery, should remaiI
e free from its blight and bondage. How well found
If ed were their suspicious, subsequent events have
l. shown much to the honor and future fame of hin
k to whom aude. The triumph of the slave powe
h in the wing party, in the rejeeiion OF Henry Clay al
i its candidate, and the nomination of the great Lou
d siana stakeholder Zachary Taylor, whose nomna
3 ton has been pronounced by most competent WIFI
Ii authority 'not fit TO be made, most complete
y 1t was by far, signal than the one achieved
IA Baltimore. 1t was successful in both
is That Cen Cass published his Nicholson letter. II
m order IN confirm his publicly, TO III