The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1856-03-11

the covcrted advantage 0f obscurty, wn"t
security can we have that some secret pledge
will not again be given, and an admnistra-
ton bc installed that will out-Herod even the
present in its agitation Of this unhappy ques-
tion! Nay, what can we hope but contin-
ucd agitation from body ofmen where appli-
cants for place, amid their deliberations,
find il necessary, in advance, TO 60 80 far as
YOU describe, in courting and fostering that
very agitation
1t seems to me there is more in this mat
ter than tbs simple aggression OF one interest
upon another--( Though that Of itself is sub
versivc enough Of every thing like harmony
and good fceling)-and that there arc deep
or and gravcr matters involved than the mere
prepouderance of a united minority over
disjointed majority; and it is in view OF these
weiohtier considerations that have delibera-
ted long as to the course which ought to be
pursued.
1t is now about ten years since my eleva
ton to the bench Withdrew NE from active
participation in politics But / have not
been an Indifferent spectator Of the events
which have occurred in the interval, and now
that have returned to private life, whdi%
am again free to act on such matters, tho
question ARISES peioie ile, N"'' 10 INV ny
duty9
At the last two Presidential elections
have not even voted, feeling as you now d.
anything but at home on the platforms estab-
lishcd bythe party to which had ever belong
ell. At the previous election-that OF Polk
meant had taken a stand in connection
with Others against making the admission OF
Texas a test of democracy, and after my ap-
pointment to the Bench, but before entering
upon its duties, I addressed a letter on the
subject TO President Polk, an extract from
which / send you, that you may see what
my views were ten years ago.
What was then prophecy has since become
reality; the state Of feeling, then anticipated
is now unhappily existing among us, and
that feeling has, l conceive, grown from the
werhticr considerations to which have re-
fcrrcd.
Nv earliest rccollcctions of the history of
the fo nation of our Government impressed
mo with the idea that the institution Of
Slavery, which had descended to us from the
early settlers was ultimately to be eradicatcd
from among us. Such was the promise on
which the compromises of the Constitution
OH that subject were founded. And | have
ever supposed that scarcely man lived in tho
country-North or South-who contempla-
ted involuntary bondage as one of our per-
monet institutions; but, on the other hand,
all have looked forward to its ultimate ex-
tinction.
Such say, was my understanding of
the universal sentiment Of the country from
the days of the Revolution. But behold the
! Justification of the rromic
L. llo1, From,
about 100000 to ever 100000; while six
States, having an aggregate. of less than 3O,-
900 slaves, have ceased to be slaveholding,
seven slavcholdng States have been added
to the Union, having now an aggregate of
over million of slaves; the right even to
discuss the question is denied to us; the priv
! ilege of pe.itioning Congress on the subject
was achieved only after long struggle; ac-
ton after action of the National Government
has been invoked and had in favor Of the
Slavery interest; territory has been added,
out of which slavcholding States have been
formed and soil, originally free, is openly
ATTEMPTED to be converted into slave territory;
subscrvicncy to the Pro-Slavery interest has
become the only passport to the Preside tial
chair, and the doctrine is fast spreading that
no one but an adhcrcnt to that interest shall
be intr,lstcd with any power under the Gov
crnment.
Various of these aggressive acts have been
submitted TO by many among us-pure pat
riots and good citizens--in the hope, oncc
strong, but now weak that an end woulI
yet come, and that the subject and its agta-
ton would yet cease. Yet Mt this day, with
all these acts-wth this oft-repeatcd spbmls-
sion, the agitation of the subject, and the
alienation among us flowing from it, is great,
or than ever it has been, and the prescription
of those who acknowledge the great truth,
that all men are endowed with the inalienablc
right to life, liberty, and the pursuit Of hap
pincss, is more and moro intolerant day by
day. n
Now, what is to be the end Of all This,
and what is the remedy! =.
Not by appealing to the South; for these
aggrcssicns do not flow from them.
Not by submitting longer in silence; for
submission, painful as it may have been, has
only augmented and not diminished the evil.
Not by laboring longer with either Of tho
old parties: for they have been alike torn to
pieces by the same subs9(cncy, and are now
alike powcrlcss for good oFAor evil.
And the public sentiment all over the
country is divided ON this great question
moro than on all Others Like Aaron's rod,
il swallows up ali minor .qaestion, and must
continue to do so until the aggrcssons ON pub
lie feeling in behalf of the Pro-Slavery inter,
est shall be arrested, and finally be made to
cease.
At length the feeling hostile TO the cxten-
sion of Slavery is aroused in the land, and is
driven into activity by those repeated cncroach-
ments upon it, and 10y the admonition which
years of unavailing submission have rromul;
gated. At length those who have long
enter taincd that feeling have bcen driven by
action over which they had no control into
working in unison with each other, and to
surrcudering all minor consideratons--all old
party tics--to the single purpose Of arrcstlng