The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-04-17
For the National Era.
POLITICS AND POLICY.


which have not yet seen presented.
There are two perils between which we have
to steer. The one is the embrace Of the politi-
clans They are our natural enemies far more
dangerous when cajoliDg us with caresses than
when barking invectives at us. They are the
offspring of time when political principles in
the sense in which we understand the term, were
not subjects Of public dispute; when politics
meant nothing more than an exciting way Of
making living; species oflegitimate gambling
without end. They detest the new order Of
things, in which men are hurled from their Pc
destals and ideas erected in their stead 1t is q
soil which their ploughshare will not cleave a
"new-fangled mode Of singing the carbines,"
which they cannot learn. They see-snd it is
time that we should-tbat we are not children of
the same spirit with them. To give them share
In the management Of our concerns would be to
oifcer our forces from the paid troops Of the en-
| envy Have we been worse betrayed by Webster
or Cass than we have by John Van Buren,
What is it that really upholds slavery The
people? Nobody dreams it. The Shareholders
They are drop in the ocean. Solely and alone
the politicians wo to US il we take them to our
bosoms
We may as an organisation, ally ourselves
for any one particular contest with one or
other Of the subsisting factions. But to merge
selves to the guidance Of their leaders, would be
nothing more nor less than to lend ourselves to
the overthrow of the principles we fight for. But
60 further, and say, even to initiate the old poll
ticisns, by forming party organized as they are,
and working as they do, would be to countenance
their actions and respect their morals in man
ner which could only benefit them, our bitterest
foes, and injure u.s. whose vital object is their
overthrow. The cement of party is sef-interest;
and this " hi hoid together much iooser organi
ration than will be needed by an association that
mean to conquer by principle and self-sacri-
fee A party nowadays is nothing more nor
less than a machine for m king President but
rre do not desire President-we desire legsla-
ton. Ow organization must not even wear the
name of party it must preserve far more d.
rect and constant personal responsibility and it
must not avowedy or tscitly, hold out to its men,
bers the hope of public plumber
On the other side is the rock on which we have
split already, and perhaps are lodged at present
want Of craftsmanship. By craftsmanship mean
the study of the forces which produce political
changes, and the just application Of those forces
to the end In view. IL is duty to propagate the
truth; but to propagate it in such way as TO
make enemies instead of friends, is to do even
worse than neglect that duty. We must be pure
as doves, but cunning as serpents. Against this
list followers with logical demonstration that
they are tyrants and tools of tyrants, and with
logical denuncistions dswning them to the doom
Of tyranny. We sin against it when We denounce
all who do not care about accommodating slave
holders, who will not repudiste the Constitution,
who will not engage in abduction forays on the
| border. We sin against it when to preserve a
character for moderation, we join in the insen-
safe cry of inoendiaries against those who are
willing for the Liberation of one slave to risk life
and limb and liberty. We sin against it when we
depend on argument to make us friends. Argument
| rarely conyinces, never induces, to action. Even
those who yield to it are actuated, not by the ar
gument, but by love of the truth from which the
argument is deduced. But the love of truth does
not dwell permanently in any human breast in
most, it glitters only at rare and Heeting inter.
walls, and even then 1t is more easily brushed
away than crystallized.
The love of truth ia best awakened by love Q
the truth-teler and this arises most easily b,
the truthteller's love of the object of conversion
To gain a mans sympathy for us, we must sym
pathize with him. Hence our plan must be, no
TO narrow down, but to extend the circle of on
sympathies. Our principle is the principle o
liberty; the principle of liberty is upheaving thu
world in thousand manifestations and they VIII,
have learnt to look upon it through the medium
of one are as earnestly it's friends as those who
see it through another. All things In nature fra
ternize, and If they do not, it is because each In
his sphere is still under the pale of the corrup
ton against which they war. The strugglers for
democracy in Europe will join hands with the
foes of caste abomination in America 80 soon as
they do not find them uninspired with their eff.
forts, or even banded with their foes Those who
work for the disenthrament Of the soil from the
clutch of the capitalist will be most ready 10 as
sst in guarding it against the STAKEHOLDER, 30 soon
as we join them in calling for free soil, not for
blacks only, but for whites.
The disfranchised in our country, immigrants,
women, and colored men, will feel that our cause
| is theirs so soon as we make their cause ours.
Those who have found, by bitter experience, that
the subsisting relations between employer and
employed make the latter dependent for existence
on the beck of the former, and reduce him to a
slavery more deplorable, because less pitied and
less yelled by the stupidity Of the sufferer than
that of the African, will hail US with rapture IL
we but show that our sympathy for the black
bondsmen of the South makes us alive and not cal
lous to the sufferngs OF the white brethren at our
elbow and that we, who are ourselves under the
ban Of good society, as incendiares and fanatics,
are not ready to cast the same unmeaning epithets
on those who apply our own principles to other
objects We cannot make the men who are to
we seek to find them made Among the holders
and minions of power, or among Its victims7
Therefore our Union must set up no political
shibboleth except the love Of freedom, launch no
apathemas against any but her real foes, and keep
an open hand and throbbing heart for oil who,
under any name, are battling for the right against
the wrong.
AT the present moment craftsmanship will
teach us two lessons: First. Not 10 make noise
the hour for that is not yet come. The people
are lust now nauseated with the farrago dosed out
to them at the political meetings for picking the
Union The very name Of public meeting Is
disgusting TO them they would sooner read a
sermon. than speech. public meeting is the
proper instrument for giving power and express
sion to an excitement that already exists, but not
for provoking one that Is yet dormant, II would
now blow out the spark instead Of kindling the
fame. Our present action should be quiet, bat
deep; calculated TO brighten, not the unthinking,
with fears of the dissolution Of the Union but the
political leaders, with fear Of the dissolution Of
their party domination. Let II be the estabiish-
paeu OF perfect communication and concert among the
tried and declared friends Of liberty every eorn1 Of
The land Thus shall we forge the weapon with
which to strike heavily whenever and wherever
there is need, without falling into the error just
committed by our sdversaries, of pumping up an
excitement when no election IL impending, 10 feel
the full force Of the consequent reaction when
the reaction will be fatal
The other lesson to be learnt is, that our ac-
ton should be immediate. The moment Is preg-
nant The traditional fsctions--parties no long
er--have formed q preliminary junction, TO be
perfected or abandoned as the demeanor OF the
people shall make advisable II the people rise
In their might, the coalition against them will be
completed under the influence Of fear, leading to
the formation Of joint Wing and Democratic
ticket, TO contend against the peoples candidates
by the last desperate effort Of party discipline.
II the people sleep, the alliance will again dissolve
under the influence Of Office thirst and rival tick
eta formed leaving the people once moro In the
lofty position Of choosing whether rats or mice
shall eat them up. Let our motto be-" Work