The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-09-16

lnC Nup VI bub NONNhOih
seems exhaustless in resources for Northern de-
basement Some unknown political upstart in
Richmond, Virginia, obtruded himself into
notice by shouting out the two words, "PREsI-
DENcY, A." "PRo-SLAvERY,n to all the candidates,
and instantly thirteen of them were at his feet.
He put to them some more last questions in
the catechism of infamy-" whether, if they
could be elected, they would veto any bill re-
pealing the Fugitive Slave Law" and 80 forth.
All answered as his questions Indicated they
must Forgetful of the nature of the oath they
longed to take, forgetfu that it is violation
of the whole spirit of our Government for the
Executive to interfere with Congress, by tell
ing them beforehand what acts of theirs he
will not approve, they all fastened to give the
desired response He did not send them
pro-slavery creed, with blank left for their
signatures, but he compelled them to write out
their own shame with their own hands. He
did not send the collar and chains all ready
for them TO put on but he said, forge them
aud rvet them on yourselves; and, submissive,
they forged them and rveted them on, and ex
pressed gratitude for the favor
And now where are those thirteen Demo
cratic candidates. And where, too, are those
two Wing candidates who, within the last two
y
Il thousand things before incOnceiyable, to pro-
pitiate the slave power? Gone, sir all gone
with those who perish at Tyburn They re-
belled against humanity and against God, and
verify they have their reward They mounted
platform, where they hoped to be crowned,
amid the huzzas of the people; but an aveng-
ing Nemesis stood there and in the twinkling
of an eye changed it into the drop platform
of the executioner Sir, when Il single male
factor receives at the hands Of justice his we'll
merited doom, the moralist sezes the example
to give warning to others who may be tempt
ed, in like cases to offend He points to the
ignominiOus body of his victim, and, rs the
herald of God he prOclaims the eternal law,
that crime never can compensate the criminal.
He declares that, until finite man can over
power or circumyent the infinite Creator the
retributions of sin shall pursue the sinner. If
the preacher does this when he has bat single
victim for text what an accumulation of
energy and emphasis is given to his admoni-
tons when there are fifteen victims before
him
Now, there are two or three general Obserya-
tons on this impressive spectacle, which wish
to make. In the first place all the leading
candidates OF both Conventions were Northern
men. Would not the historian have signalzed
the event as something most extraordinary, if
fifteen Southern champions of slavery born and
bred IN its midst, whose very growth bodily
and mental had been only the accretOn of
pros slavery particles and ideas, and who were
committed to the institution by q lifc.l long Sc
ries of acts, had suddenly gone over to North
ern Free Sellers, and offered to stand upon
their platform to obtain their votesl Would
it have ut all diminished the marvel, if these
fifteen Southern applicants for Northern sup
port, with all the followers whom lust of power
or of money could enlist had gone through all
the South, voclierating that unless they should |
adopt the Free Soil platform the Union would |
be dissolved think such a chapter in his
tory would never cease to create amazement |
and wonder is it not infinitely more wonder
full, in this age Of the world that Northern
men should do for slavery what we could never
expect, at one time, 80 many Southern men to
do even for freedom
My second remark pertains to the number
of the candidates Never were there even half
so many on the Presidential race-course before.
Now, why were they so numerous, rs well as
all from the North The answer is obvious.
The South had said again and again, and most
explicitly, to the North "Giye us your most
pro-slayery man, and we will adopt him. 1t
is easy to see that when moral or even intel
lectual qualifications are the test in choosing
President, the candidates must be few but if
devotion to slavery is the sole test then there
may not only be fifteen but five hundred or
live thousand. In this way the competitors be-
come numerous that the chances of success
are worth nothing. Nobody will pay much for
a lottery ticket when the blanks are to the |
prizes ~ II hundred to one. 1t was poor |
speculation, therefore, for the Presidential as
prants to put the price of the Office 50 low that
anybody however obscure before, could become
rival. Cass, Buchanan, Marcy, Douglas,
Dallas, Dickinson, and so forth, should have
thought Of this before they entered the lists,
and put themselves on an equality with a man
whom not one in five thousand out of New
Hampshire could remember ever to have heard
of before, and yet who plucked the prize out
of their hands.
Another remark is, that the Southern vote,
in both Conventions, could have been concen-
trated ut any time upon either one of the
Northern candidates, with one remarkable ex-
] will mention by and by
provided only that the Northern men could
have united upon him. At any moment the
South would have accepted General Cass or
Mr.. Buchanan, or Governor Marcy In the
Wing Convention, the South was most anxious
to take Mr. Fillmore; but it was impossible to
bring the North to their support. Each of
them, by the eagerness of his pro-slavery
course, had signed his own death warrant in
States enough to defeat him. And as to Mr..
Fillmore, on whom the South was more unan- |
nous than on any one of all the other candi-
dates, his bloody right hand had signed the
Fugitive Slave Law; and therefore it was MS
certain as anything future can be, that he |
could not obtain single electoral vote north |
of Mason and Dixon's line. The infinite mercy
of God may wash that blot from his name in
another world, but it can never be forgotten in
this And thus they all came under that great
moral law which forever cries "Woe wOe!n
to the offender Fascinated by the brlliancy
of the prize, they forgot the eternal law of rec
ttude and humanity by which alone it can be
honorably won and worn.
A VOICE. What do you say of General
Pierce :
MIR MANN Some one inquiries what say
of General Pierce. say of General Pierce,
that if he had been conspicuous in the pro-sla-
very contest for the last two years if he had
been known as the ardent lover of the Fugitive
Slave Law, and had answered the Richmond
Scott letter about a veto Of it, he never would
have received the Baltimore nomination. Some
other man would have been exhumed for the
occasion. Not knowledge Of him. but igno-
rance Of him, secured his nomination.
VOICE. How Of General Scott q
Mr.. MANN Had General Scott devoted
himself to the cause of slavery for the last two
years, as his competitors had done, he would
not have been nominated His shortcomings
in that iniquty as everybody knows is the
reason, and might almost say the sole reason,
why the South and the pro-slavcry part of the
North oppose him. But for this, the South