Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1849-08-22
Letter OF the Posfm aster General.

Att4CI "a txxC Il O3lAAAGAStSA oSAASA u
It is a part of the fashionable slang of tn
Washington Union and it's brethren of tn
Locofoco press, says the Bee, to denounc'
every Nothern politician who happens to be
| Wing, as an abolitionsist Of the deepest dye
and among those whom Locofocoism has beer
most ~virulent and venomus in a%ssailing witt
this charge is the Hon. JACOB CoLLAMER, Post
master General of the United States. We
publish below, a letter from this gentleman tc
THOMAS P. CRAwroD, Esq, of Pickens county
Ala, in relation to this current SANDER, and
which proves conclusively the falsehood Of the
allegation. Judge CoLLAMER entcrtains, in
relation to slavery, those opinions which are so
common to every man living north Of the
Potomac. He is not an abolitionist in any
sense of that term, and is himself reviled and
anathmetized by the abolitionists. In the Wing
party there are few-very few-men who merit
the opprobrious title of "abolitionists.' The
traitors to Southern rights are to be found in
the ranks of the Northern Democracy, who
affiliate with the most hideous and wicked fac
tons, for the charitable purpose of assailing the
South. The coalitions in New York, Michigan,
Connecticut, Wisconsin, and elsewhere, are
standing evidences of the fact. 1t we'll be-
comes these dishonest partizans, who sedulously
and thus blind the South, to hold upas an aboli-
ZIONIST every opponent oftheir doctrines. They
would do well to look at home:
WASHINGTON Cry, July 10, ls49.
Dear Sir received yours of the goth
ultimo, in which you say that in the exciting
Congressional canvass in your district in AL
ALBANIA, | I'm chraged with being a downright
AbolHionist, and that the Democratic candidate
calls me "a blackhearted Sulphurous Abolition
ist." You seem to desire me to defend myself.
You, and all men of ordinary d~iscernment,
must be sensible thatthose who use such epithets
generally regard the People they address as
ignorant and excitable enough to be influenced
more by vituperation and personal abuse than
either by facts or reason. 1t is, therefore, a
course which cannot be stopped by anything
| can either say or do; all that I can say is, that
| am not now, nor have I ever been, an Adolf
ZIONIST, and | have always received the most
bitter opposition from the Abolition party in
my W State. have always held that nothing
should be done by the General Government in
relation to the subject Of slavery in the several
States. | have always discountenanced and
opposed all measures, public or private, in
tended to interfere with or disturb the instr
tuition as existing with the States, as recog-
nized by the Constitution. At the same
time, it is due to justice and myself to say, / am
an anti-slavery man: that is, | regard slavery as
a very great political and moral evil, and think
nothing should be done by the Government to
increase or extend it.
You say Mr.. Inge informs the people. that as
General | can send by the mails or
withhold therefrom any documents I wish, and
since I have been Postmaster General the
South has been flooded with Abolition docu-
Now, Sir, l have had, in Congress. some
acquaintance and intercourse with Mr..
Inge, and it is extremely difficult for me to be-
lieve he could ever be guilty of such gross and
Misrepresentation. 1t certainly could
not be necessary for any one to write to me for
to meet so obvious a falsehood.--
The Postmaster General has not the slightest
power, direction or control over the matter to
be mailed. 1t is regulated entirely by law. The
laws of Congress establishing and regulating
the Postoffice Department are in all parts of the
country open and accessible to all men. These
laws give neither to any postmaster nor to the
head ofthe Department any authority or control
over any printed paper or letter which
any person may think proper to convey by
mail. When such a paper or letter, properly
is presented to a postmaster to be
he has no right nor power, nor has the
Postmaster General any authority to give him
power to open and examine it, to ascertain its
contents, or to suppress or to refuse to mail
it. No Postmaster General ever attempted the
of any such power, and precisely the
same instructions, regulations, rights, powers
and duties exist now in the Department and
offices which have existed for many years before
accession to office, and no other. All this
known, or can be known, to any man who
desires to know the TRUTH, How gross and
unjustifiable then must be the representations
Of any man who attempts to make the people
believe that l am, or this administration, or even
the President, is sin any degree answerable for
the sentiments contained in the printed and
written papers which all men have the power
to send in the mails, and which no one has the
power to prevent.
lam, Sir, your humble servant,
JACOB CoLLAMER,
To Tr,onx.s d Cp.yvEopn |