The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-06-16

New York and Boston papers. The elaborate
politeness and fulnsss of that in response to tn,
Boston "loyalists," contrasts curiously with thu
brevity of that in reply to the people of Proyi
dence, Rhode leland
The former may be regarded as an apolog,
to, and for the citizens of Boston, and an avowa
of sympathy with the anti-slavery sentiment al
the North We have italicsed few Of the
most significant sentences in this letter, evi
IDENTIFY written with great care and cautious de-
liberation.
The WEBSTER movement there doubtless
has precipitated this declaration of feeling on
the part of the PRESIDENT and even he cannot
bid higher for the votes of the political or pro-
spective Abolitionists.
After all the cant of the organs of the Ad
ministration, about the sectionalism" Of the
party and the press that has supported Southern
rights, we have here from the President of the
United States Gas but recently from his Secretary
of State) broad avowal of hostility to one OF
the great sections Of the country. For in what
other light can such language as this be re-
garded: " still hoping and trusting that in due
nme some mode ,oouM be decided By those ,oho
hare The constitutional poroer TO ABOLISH SLAVE
RY, and Uho a,e most deeply Interested in lis
final extinction, TO GET RID OF THE EVIL, ,oit,-
out destroying the grandest fabric Of freedom
that mortal hands have euer raised"
Why this is precisely the SEWARD platform
1os ~, IL ~
Let any partizan of the PRESIDENT place the
two together, and deny the fact if he can.
Thus wrote Senator SEWARD on the first of
February, l849:
In regard to slavery, do not know what you
mean by unnecessary agitation. As a man and
citizen, have never been it's defender or it's
apologist; am sure never should be so, rs a
magistrate or a statesman. But those persons
misapprehend me very much, who suppose that
would vainly agitate even that question, in the
public councils, and am not to say now for the
first time that hold that agitation vain by a
legislator which lends to practical results and
that agitation worse than useless which, prose-
cuted for unattainable purposes, puts in jeopardy
great existing interests. The union of these
States is indispensable, in my judgement, to the
dCCOuupiloulhCuU VI ohy SOON O'Sh III 1C6utu W
the institution of slavery, and the agency Of the
Wing party and Wing administration is the only
agency by which it can be effected. am there
fore. think, quite unlikely to put either into
jeopardy
am in favor, as think every Wing is, of cir
cumscribing slavery within its present bounds
| am opposed to its encroachments, and shall re-
sist both in whatever situations may be placed.
/ shall labor by free, and kind, and peaceful dis
cussion to form public opinion, and direct ii to
constitutional, la,gfl and peaceful removal of it,
But that removal must be through the agency of
those only 10 ,ohom its responsibilities belong,
and the constitutional barriers which protect the
slave States in the exclusive right to discharge
those responsibilities, will be as sacred in my re-
gard as those which protect the free State in
their rights.
Such was his policy then-such is the avowed
hope and tryk" of this Wing Administration
rop, as indicated by the PRESIDENT and his
PREMIER, in terms too plain to be msinterpreted
or mistaken. And yet men may be found
at the South, even after this authoritative
avowal of the abolitionism of the Administra-
tion to insist that the safety of the South depends
on standing by the Administration and its
great measure, the compromise"
OF all the signs of the times, this bold
avowal of Abo' ition sentiment on the part of the
President Of the United STATES, is the most
ominous and startling.
Listen to his confession of faith to the "loya
citizens" of Boston
LETTER FROM PRESIDENT FHLMoRE.-At tn,
~
Thursday night, the following letter from tn
President of the United States was read by MI
) Brinly:
: WASHINGTON, June 9, 1851.
n Hon. Francis Brinly, President Of The Commo
Council Of The City Of BOSTON,
SrR,-When ! had the pleasure of meetin
you and your associates Of the committee fror
Boston, in New York, and you did me the homo
of inviting me to visit your city, and kindly ten
dered me, on behalf of the Common Council it
bospitalties, | fondly hoped that | should b,
able during the present month to accept you
invitation. But regret to say that find it in
consistent with what deem my public duty t.
indulge in this qualification; and, therefore
while am profoundly grateful for the disiin
guished honor implied by the limitation fee
reluctantly compelled to decline it,
My personal acquaintance IN your city is bu
slight as it has been, it has left many pleasant re
collections, and should have been extremely
| happy to have renewed and extended it at thi
time | have long entertained a high respec
for the intelligence and patriotism of the grea
mass of your citizens; andrecent erents have no
impaired diat respect You hare been, and Ifrus
erer ioiH be, lap-ioring and a a,o-biding peo
pie | know that your devotion to this great
principle has had severe test in your recent
efforts to execute the law for the return Of fug
tive slaves. Slarery, in any form. is repuganl
10 your feelings and education and the fugitive
naturally and inevitably ercites your deepest
sympafhies. Nothing but stern sense Of duty
founded upon n rational, solemn conviction
that constitutional and legal obligation must
be obeyed, at any ard every sacrifice, could
have insured the execution of the law in case
like this.
But for myself, never doubted that the law
would ultimately triumph. Good faith is the
foundation Of all morality and all social securi.
> ty. The Free States had pledged themselves
I by the Constitution to the performance of thi,