The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1850-11-12
what have tn. Aso,,oon,.s. done for the

What have the AbolIt,onssts done for the
siavs:
Some twenty years ago, when G'rrison and his |
associates started their Niger agt atoms, IL was
chiefly in prayer meetings aGd among the maiden |
sisters that their frs, exploits were achieved
Finally, they got few old men and children TO
I'LL up the chinks and, last Of all, seward, Greeley
and Weed, with an occasional pious appeal of
grace from the Rev. DIR. Samuel Hansoa Cox, who
had the honor of being wrecked on the coast OF
ireland, Sin Europe" with Fred Douglass and
the Viennese children With such materials as
these, they could afford TO give up their appeals to
the throne OF Grace, and they quit the altar for the
ballot box, over which was unfurled, in blood red
colors, the abolition flag. mighty flourish o.
trumpets was made, and good many good people
were humbugged into the idea that the millennium
was dawnng over the coast of Congo, aud that
ii would he ushered in g in black" We have
seen the upshot of il all, and what has IT been
First of ELL under the alarm felt by the South, lest
their wives and their children should be slaughter
ed in their beds at night they took good care TO see
that the chains" which had hitherto been ropes
of sand, should be converted into bands OF iron,
and the day Of emancipation was indefinitely post
poned This excitement had not been kept up
more than two years, before convention met in
the State Of Virginia to alter the constitution
The subject had been agitated in that State for
many years, and gradually the public mind was
approaching point where discussion had grown
common about the WISDOM and the humanity of in
PRODUCING into The ne constitution a clause which
would gradually have abolished slavery in that
State. Suddenly, when the convention met, a
feeling of alarm and apprehension manifested il
self and, instead of mild. humane, and judcious
system of gradual emancipation for the negroes,
more stringent and severe statutes were passed,
which bound the yoke all but hopelessly upon the
African. The new laws were severe, because they
were dictated by the sternest of masters-fear.
Many years later the subject was agiated in other
S ates and, rot long ago, the mild and gene
rous policy, which the noble Senator from Ken
lucky had advocated for almos, half a century, was
abjured by his fellow citizens and, by an over
whelming vote, that State refused 10 change her
laws on the subject Of negro slavery. In a word,
throughout the fifteen Southern States, slavery be-
came an institution to he defended, under the
guarantees of the constitution, against the outrages
of Northern fanatics, and an appeal was fiaaly
made TO the Congress OF the United States.
Here was a tribunal, where there was good sense,
legal knowledge, justice and patriotism enough to
that ore, among other measures proposed by Henry
Clay, and the great men of both parties, secured
to the South those simple rights which Washing.
ton, and Jefferson, and Pinckney, and Randolph,
and Moultrie, and Sumpter had guaranteed to them
by the constitution of SO, and which their descend
ants were resolute to assert and maintaia-the
Fugitive Slave law. The abotionsts were not
satisfied by abducting all the slaves they could
huf her u,ero l.,e al I,
is most likely that they will lose ali for, TO save
the Union, which really was the great business OF
the last session of Congress- moderate, and sensible
and patriotic men were willing to give more to the
South than they had ever askcdfor, except at crisis
when their rights were so fearfully menacei that
they were compelled TO ask, and the whole nation
TO grant protection 10 their constitutional privileges
1t became a question, what were the guarantees of
the constitution of 80 The recovery of "fagi-
tves from service" was one of their rights by the
original compact which they, to their honor be it
said, never had enforced for sxty-one years and
so far from saying that the South has bullied the
North this subject all the bullying had. in our
opinion, been the other side.
The upshot Of the whole matter has been, that
Northern Senators and Representatives have been
forced, by sense Of justice, and the power of po
puar opinion to atone for the fatal consequences of
sbolitIon agitations And now II turns out that the
Fugitive Slave law was not mere inscription on
parchment, but living fact; and there is gene.
raj disturbance among "gemmen of color" lest
they be taken back to the spot from which they
came. i, may, in the end, (for we like to be just
TO all parties) prove to be en- unfortunate circum-
stance that this law, on its passage, was allowed
to 60 through int form which admitted of an srposi
faefo Interpretation, whereby all that had escaped
before its passage might be claimed after t; yet
even this unforeseen circumstance Is only one of a
train of unfortunate events which have been
brought about solely and entirely by abolition fana
ticsm,
Behold, freemen ofthe North wha, the aboli-
tionists have forced you TO do. Look on the
past and on the future and in the one read
the cause, and in the other the effect. Such are
the miserable fruits of socialism