New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-12-31

"them ' TITUS these tr;ang liberties .saes v;a
the natioosl nAi-b,gs were recognized 90 brS
under the Higher Law Of Slavery BY the Heed q
The Department, and we CAMEO. wonder that n D
should be regarded % standing instruction. IN TIA
cases ever since. ~
At the next meeting Of Congress, Presiden. jedi .
con brosgbt the subject to lie notice, add coma
very remarkable doipss followed in the SsnsA-
basiDg the double object Of protecting Slavery and
of eorrrirg Mr.. Van Bureo. On the I'd Of June.
1896, ball was introduced into the secste, for.
bidding Deputy Postmas'eIs from receiving or
transmitting through the mail any pamphlets.
newspapers, haDdbiils. or other printed papers or
pictorial representations touchirg Slavery TO any
Slave State, Territory or District If offered, they
were to be returned to the person offering theu,
and, if not accepted, to be burned by the Post
master. Mr.. Calhoun moved, "a an amendment
that they should be delivered TO soue person ap
pointed for the purpose BY the several States, on.
in case none such were appointed, that they sbouA
be destroyed by the Postmaster, without further
ceremony. This, hOwasr, was rejected. Whom
the time came for passing the bill to third read
ipg, there was tie-lS voting for aud IS against
il. This was the critical instant Of Mr.. Van 3D.
rens political life. But he met the emergency
promptly, and, BY voting az, ele"lcd himself Pres.
ideut for the next term. When the vote on the
final passage came 70 be taken, June g. the bill was
rejected by e5 nees to 10 syes-several Senator's
voting sgainst its final passage who had voted ff
the third reading. So there can be little doubt that
tho tie was preconcerted for the purpose Of testing
the Loyalty and the nerve Of the Vice-Pnesideat.
We may add that Mr. Buchanan swenei the list Of
the works Of supererogatiop in virtue Of which hsi
on the eve of Translation to the paradise Of the
White House, by the grace Of consistently voting
fer the erection Of every Postmaster iato Grand
InquisitOr of heretical publications.
We do not know whether this great Battle Of the
Books, in which our South Carolnian brethren
came off cOpquerors, and more than conquerors,
has ever been sung in epic or in lyric verse; But
we would commend it to Mr.. Joseph Brennan, -
theme more worthy TO be celebrated in Lay Of the
Young South than "the waddling bull-pup Hale"
or Sumner, 'narliDg poodle-pet,' Of the ballad
with which we delighted our readers not long ago.
Miss Anna Ella Carroll too who lately sounded
abroad the glOries of the Union, in prose poem Of
some sixty pages, might here find inspiration best
ting her pedestrian Muse. Come" she exclsms,
with the rapture Of q Pythoness, "Come, 70 proud
"est of historians-B Bancroft, Hume aud HMiard
"(mesniDg Htdreth, We presume); come, yemsses,
"ApoLo, Caliope, Calypso, and celebrate tho in
"effable grandeur Of this Western Empire" But
while these bards are tuning their Tyres, We
are happy to say that that great event. and the
matters immediately preceding and following
il, have not been left without Northern historian
worthy of the ccmpsnionship of these two great
Southern writer's. Mr. Samuel Eliot, Professor Of
History and Literature in Trinity College Hart
ford, not Cambridge we presume) has devoted
page of bis Manual of the History Of the United
States to this matter. He says: "The mails were
"bufdened with papers intended to ezeite geserst
"iasurreetion, or at least general alarm. AZ
"matural consequence, the Post Offices were broken
into ard the obnoxious publications destroyed
Had this verscious historian thought il worth his
while to verify the facts he thus hppsntIy takes for
granted, he would have found that nothing could
well be farther from the truth than the character he
gives Of the publications in question, and which,
we infer from his tone Of relating IL, he thinks jus
tilted thei, violent and felonicus destruction.
The publications which suffered this martyrdom
were copies Of The Emaneipater Newspaper, OF
The Slares Friend and of The Axti. Slavery Record
They contained no word addressed to the shves,
unless it were of counsel to submit themselves
peaceaby to their condition. They were madeup Of
arguments and appeals directed solely to the masters,
exhOrtirg them to give unto their slaves such things
as were just and equal. Mr. r. G. Williams, the Pub
lhhiDg Agent of the American Ant-Slavery Society,
in card in the New-York papers, justly said that
4" these documents were addressed not TO the slave
"but to his master; and in using the press and the
UNITED States mail to address the understanding
"and conscience of their feOw.ctizens who bold
" slaves, they did but exercise one Of the most
sacred rights which the Constitution has guaran-
L" teed to every citizen" The public were informed
that they might be supplied gratis with the offend
ing documents permission which was used with
such esgerness that the Society had to print large
eutra editions to supply the demand. Had there
been the shadow of q pretense that they were Of
the incendiary character attributed to them By Mr..
Eliot, it could not have escaped the myriads OF
scrutinzrg eyes which searched them for this very
purpose. Equally false is the description he gives
Of the method Of the early AbolitiOnsts, where he
says: "Abolitopism was 80 called from its demands
that Slavery should be abolished, and this imme-
"dateIy, eilhOW reference 10 the Consultation or
" the institutions Of tie SOxth, the claims Of the
master, or the fortunes Of the slares. Whsteveris
"mOtves, its course cas prcfessediy mnscruySloxs,
"spsriDg neither of the interests against which
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