New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-08-23


reciprocal political action.
We may-nay If you please, we are bound to
bear our testimony with all possible enmestness
against the system Of Slavery; but we contend
with equal earnestness that we are not exoDerated
from the duties which our union with the slave
holders imposes upon us and that any action, in
tended TO separate US from them, Is essentially re-
evolutionary.
The great majority of those who compose the
Free Soil party are earnest, Christian men; and
know that they will not treat lightly the teach
ings Of Him whose pane they bear. 90 pray not"
said He Of his disciples A" that thou shOudst take
them out of the world. but that thou shouldst
keep them from the evil" DO our Free. Sofriends
think, in view of these remarkable words, that 1t
Is His will that they should take themselves out OF
the mon, or out OF the two great parties which
divide the country The world needed the dsci-
pies Of the Redeemer and if these Frees men
are Christians, the MON needs them, the Wings
need them, the Democrats need them-not as an
tagonists, but as citizens, friends as guides, as
co-workers.
Again In The Parable of the Tares We have an
Impressive lesson to warn us against mistaken
zeal. man sOwed field with good seed but
an enemy came in stealthily and sowed tares. His
servants were grived at seeing these vile plants
growing among the wheat as our friends are
grieyed to see so abomnable thing as Slavery
mixed up with our excellent political institutions
end whether they attribute it to Satan or to Great
Britain, they, too, may very truly exclaim An
enemy hath done this 2" Well, the owner of the
field in question had some good and faithful ser.
vsnts-as our Free Soil friends good and faith
full citizens but they were little ndiscIeet-
They proposed at once to go to work and weed
out the tdreS ; but their master forbade saving,
Nay (; lest chie ye gather up the tares, ye root
up also the rhtat ruth them" These words, it
seems to US, have striking application to the
kafn N,,la
sures, are Dot in accordance with the precepts or
the spirit of Him who came to "bind up the broke
hearted ard preach delIverinc TO the captves."
Ihnk J on he would be pleased TO see YOU LAYING
waste the beautiful heritage He has given us, in
order to nd It of IN evil which he, in inscrutabe
wisdom permitted to infest it Before you an
sver that ques ION. ponder well His word.
And again When He made his appearance in
the weird lie found the Jewish church and nation
teekng with ny pocrisy ami corruption. lie bore
an earnest and enc getic testimony against these
things but though tie was-what none us are
"holy, harmless unde6led, and separate from sim
ners, yet he continued in communion with that
church throughout his life. He was no Separat
,St. This fact is very significant.
And yet again When the people of some Sa-
marian village refused to receive Him, His disci
piles. in their indignant zeal, proposed to call down
ire from Heaven upon them, after the manner OF
Elijah but he rebuked them saying, "ye know
not what manner Of spirit ye are or Perhaps
it would be well for some of our anti-Slavery
brethren, whose mouths are so full Of denunca-
tions, to reflect upon this incident. Indeed, lit
tie more OF his kind and gentle spirit would do US
all good when we are talking upon this subject.
Still, let not forget, that, meek and gentle as
he was, he was no ComprOmiser.
bessrs Wilberforce and Clarkson and their as
sociates in the great anti-Savery movement in
England, did not set up new party IN order to
et CT their object but labored in their places year
after year, with a zeal aud fearessness only
equaed 10y their moderation, until they accom-
plished the glorious work OF abOlIshlng Slavery
throughout the British Empire.
Now, we charge upon our Free Soil friends that
they have left the post of danger and OF efficient
service. Whom do the champions of Slavery most
fear and at whom do they ann their heaviest
blows Are they directed against Nm Lloyd
Garrison, Gerrit Smith, or even at John L. Hale
or Joshua X. GiddiDgs BY no means; for so
long as these gentlemen occupy the positions
they do, they strengthen Slavery by thwarting
and battling the efforts Of the men who are labor
ing to arrest its progress and resist its claims.
elkenfd by their dtsertion, the friends OF Free
dom in the North have been forced to give way
some what. In 1874 the action of fifteen thou
sand Liberty mem in New York gave the vote
81 that State to Mr.. Polk, which secured his cleo
ton, and thus entailed upon the country the ca
lemnOus measures OF the annexation of Texas,
the war with Mexico, with all its disturbing Sc
Quences, out Of which arose that bitter and dan
gerous stnie which ended in the enactment OF the
Compromise measures. To them the country Is
indebted for the Fugitive Slave Law; and for the
abandonment Of the Wlimot Proviso. Well may
The defenders Of Slavery look with cOmplacency at
such move ments as the nomination of Birney, and
the Conventions of Buffalo and Pittsburgh, while
they aim their heaviest blows at such men as Sew
ard, Johnston and Greeley. These latter have
not removed beyond striking distance, as have
the others we have named
This is practical world, and its affairs are facts,
not distractions. We have to do with things as
they are, and not as they ought to be. That
Slavery exists among us-that lt is sanctioned by
law and recognized by the ConsttutlOn-that it
is beyond our control by any means short OF revo-
lutiOn-are many great fscts. But that Its
further progress can be arrested by due conrse Of
law, and its arrogant claims abated, is equally
true. Through the division OF its opponents, as
we have seen, it has gained some advantages both
in territory and in law, which it could not have
gained had not some thousands of Wings Of the
Free States deserted their brethren to pursue
fgment, an abstraction, scheme which, If 1t
ever reaches any practical result, must sever the
Union, and probably plunge the country into civil
strife and blOOdshed.
Our readers will not have failed to observe in
reading the report of the debates in this Conven-
ton, the wo and utterly untenable positions
taken by Gerit Smith. This gentleman bears
most estimabe character. He is immensely
wealthy, and possesses learning and talents of the
hrst order. Manufactured and generous, his mu-
nifcence made him celebrated before he became
identified with the anti. slavery cause. About the
year 1885, Convention ofAbOitionists assembled
Utica, but had not proceeded far with their
deliberations, when they were brtally assaulted
by mob and literally driven from the city. Dir.
Smith, Who until that time, had been opposed to
the movements of the Abolitonis, but was large
contributor to the Colonization Society, happened
TO be in town that day, and feeling justly indignant
at this Outrage upon the rights OF free discussion,
invited the scattered Delegates to assemble in
the village of Whitesborough, where he assured
day the Convention reassemblf d in that village
when MIR. Smith came among jthem and dev-
cred one of the most eloquent and powerful
srteches IN defense Of the rlght of di.cussinn md