Plymouth advertiser. [volume] (Plymouth, Ohio) 1853-1988, 1855-10-06
From the New York Evening Post.
FREEDOM vs. SLAVERY.
4 The Ereniay Post

Gentemen: Having been many years a reader
OF the EceniHg Post, and believing it strongly at
tached To the principle of democratic freedom. |
have yentured this communication on the present
aspect Of our political Affairs
No rejecting mind, attached to freedom. can
be Indifferent to the influences that now threaten
the principles of democracy.
Slavery and freedom are antagonistic. II is
impossible that they harmonize Their object
and interest are adverse to each other, and thew
work accordingly. Civil and political freedom
secures to individuals the right and dignity of la.
bor, and thereby opens the field for every honor
able employment that promises the promotion of
private interest and happiness. In this condition
the energy of the individual man leads him to
prosecute every laudable enterprise and industry
that offers beneficial result And as national
growth and prosperity are but the aggregate of
individual effort, it necessarily follows that what
ever best promotes individual enterprise, best
promotes national growth.
The labor of freeman is better directed more
active, and its results more frugally cared for.
than that of slave. This is too obvious to need
discussion. The state, therefore, must suffer in
Its growth and prosperity when its labor is per.
formed by slaves. The only party benefited by
slavery is the slave holder. All other portions of
citizens and the state at large suffer- The hsto
ry of our country abundanty proves this
The citizens of slave state, other than the
shareholders, suffer in CASTE The free laborer in
slave state, though white, is regarded as de-
graded man, hardly holding the respect of a slave.
Here serious blow is struck at an essential prin.
clple OF freedom, as no great degree of political
freedom can be enjoyed in any state where labor
is not respected. In vain do we inquire, "what
rt,,k,, .l,o1
mote the education and improvement of free la
borers?"
In our slave states the African is doomed the
slave. Thus far no effort has been made to bring
laborlng white men under the direct yoke of the
taskmaster. They hold nominal freedom, with
the low estimate of degraded caste, that shuts
up nearly every particle Of audable ambition
The mechanic rises little higher than the labor,
er. The merchant takes the next step, and the
professional man ascenls to the next above him,
the slave holder on the top looking down upon
and governing all the rest.
In slave state property will mainly be con
trolled by shareholders, and hence they give the
tone to business and enterprise, and, as must be
expected, they act a united body in all matters
of business and politics that affect the interests as
slayeholders-and find it no difficult thing to
is manifest from the history of the slave states of
this country. In round numbers the slaves, in
the aggregate of all the slave states, are about
half the number of free persons-and of the free
persons, about one in fifteen are SHAREHOLDERS 1t
may appear singular, that in country claiming
to have free govern ment, so small a proportion
should completely control their political condition,
and shape to their own purpose every measure that
IN tho hapa6t IF tbo in
So far we have regarded slavery as a state af-
fair, and its influence on the (technically) free
men in slave states. If such, imagining them
selves free, are content to be subservient to the
interest and dctation of one-ffteenth of their
number, we in the free states must leave them to
their choice-and let us no more wonder at the
maintenance of aristocratc power in other eoun-
tries, where the few govern the many and bring
them into subordination to their interests. 1t is
the result of decided unity of action, always
prompted by self interest, and never fails to make
all other questions subservient to the main object
If submitted to vote, under circumstances to
admit an expression of real sentiment, there is no
doubt large majority of the citizens in the states
of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Mis-
souri,, and probably Others, would decide for free
dom, and the abolition of slavery in those states
But the power of the shareholders (though small
in numbers) is so strong that rarelya man can be
found in those states bold enough to utter word
in favor of freedom-except the saveholder-and
there is no leading intellect TO form the basis of
combined action, unless it be the love of freedom,
and this is not strong enough in the slave states
to secure unity of action and hence all but slave
holders submit to degraded caste.
But we have demonstration of the power of
shareholders in their political action beyond the
limits of their own states, and it is this we desire
mainly to examine.
The slave states Gin round number) contain six
millions of technically free population, and the
free states thirteen millions, or over two to one
In the general government, the small body of
shareholders control public affairs so completely
that tidewaiter, deputy postmaster, no less
Except in degree of importancc) than Judge Of
the Supreme Court, or foreign minister, must
subscribe to the policy and measures of the slave
holder, in order to secure his appointment, even
in free state. To such extent is this carried
hat mans democracy is declared forfeited, and
he is declared and enemy of the Union and con-
sttution, if he fails to maintain that democracy
and slavery are synonymous terms.
In former days slavery was regarded local, de-
pendent on state laws and confined to state limits
Now the constitution of the general government
(where the word slave does not occur, is claimed
to be the very guardian Of slavery and that if it
does not support the present condition and all the
extension the slave holders desire, it is not worth
preserving and must go down. Inpain language
the union of these states must be broken up, un
less the slave holders (about one in forty Of the
people, can have their way. The people of these
states, if the slave holders view is correct, mus,
have been under great dclusion, in supposine
they lived under constitution formed to main
tain the principles of freedom.
Whatever may be the authority of the constitu
tion, it is clear that those holding at this time the