The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-07-11

FRIDAY, JULY IL, 1851.
mere Progress.


mere Frpgress.
aye who listen with credulity 10 the wills
psrs of hope, and believe that the (com) promises
of today will be fulfilled on the morrow" had
perhsps better attend 10 such developments as
the following letter of CAssIUs III. CLAY, Of
kentucky. II would be as well also to consider
the movement recently made by the mechanics
of considerable town in Virginia, in opposi-
ton to the future practice of the mechanic arts
by slaves, as derogatory to white labor-and
the aid and comfort given them by the New
York Tribune. 4.
These are but the beginnings Of an assault
on the institution of slavery and on slayehold-
srs, to be carried on within the Southern States,
and to have tho cooperation Of Abolitonists
without In such a struggle, which party would
have the patronage and support of the federal
government, as it will probably be admins
tered?
Tho path of submission was selected us the
path Of ease. and Of safety, by many who
unmanfully shrank from the responsibility OF
the times, and fondly dreamed they could leave
to the next generation the danger and difficulty
that impend. But destiny will not wait. Fa-
nstcism, flushed with recent triumph, and proud
with the spectacle of recent submission, insists
on completing Its work in the present genera
lion. All things indicate tho rapid approach Of
the struggle The disruption Of parties, the
nomination of candidates, the accelerated march
of aggression and of agitation on the one hard
of submission and distraction on the other, por-
tend the swift approach Of the day and the hour,
for final adjustment. as
The day for trimming and shutting, for swag-
gsring and lodging, is nearly over The con-
troversy has now four or perhaI eight sides it
will soon have bat two:
LETTER FROM CAssIUs NJ CLAY-The fol-
lowing letter was addressed by Mr.. Clay to T
committee of Free-soilers in Maine:
WHITEHALL, Madison Co., XVI
May 20, 1851.
GENTLEMEN: Your favor Of the last month is
received. 1t would give me great pleasure to
be present with YOU on the 18th of July next as
proposed, did circumstances allow. But am
canvassing the State with a view of organizing
an anti-Lavery party in Kentucky. think ]
can be more usefully, though far less agreeably
employed here.
Allow nae to say, however, that regard THE
contest embracing tho liberty or slavery of all.
white and black. OF course it cannot be an is
sue between North and South, but between the
slaveholding a,istocracy Of the South and the
lage shipping merchants and cotton dealers in
the North, on the one hand, and the great nom
slaveholuing masses of the whole Union on the
other.
Our fathers Of '7S knew well that liberty and
slavery could not oO>sxist-there was declared
truce, but no permanent peace was made or all
tcipated. Jefferson embodied their sentiments
in his letter to Ea Cole Of Illinois, contend ng
that they Of 76 but began the vindication of our
liberty by the revolutionary war-that it re-
maanod to US. the descendants of the patriots of
that day, to complete our liberties by the over
throw of slavery.
Slavery, so far from becoming extinct as Mr.
Madison and others believed, in consequence OF
which they would not leave the word "slave" on
record in the constitution Of '88, has strength
ened itself and carried on an aggressive war in |
the slave and free States
In South Carolina the great mass Of the lab
oring class are about to be precipitated into re-
volution without being heard by the ballot in
their own behalf! The liberty OF Northern anti
slavery men in slave States is impossible The
United States Constitution is overthrown by the
Fugitive slavelaw BY that, persons no,o free in
tree States are returned into slavery which was
inflicted on some remote ancestor--spartus Sc
g,titur uentrem.
The slave party with high hand tramples
down MI tho principles and usages of such liberty
even, as missionaries and limited monarchies
have for many centuries enjoyed ! said one
year ago to the members of the New York lees-
iature that the American people were slaves!
was set down as a fanaticl How now 81.
No, We must arouse ourselves at once, or we
are lost. Such men as Webster and Dickinson
in the North are traitors to freedom; they must
be put down. In the South, the masters must
learn that slave States are not made up only of
masters and saves-but that another class, the
great white laboving masses, must begin to be
estimated in political calculations
The government everywhere must be put up
on the free tack! The cry must be once more,
liberty or death 7" TILL in the land of the free,
men shsal have equal rights
Your friend, c. NJ CLAY.
Assass. JEFF, MAnURy, and others, committee