Freeman's champion., 1858-02-11
From the Missouri Democrat
Progress Of the Free Labor Cause

Progress Of the Free Labor Cause.
1t is certainly cheering to notice
the expansive force of sound prin'
ciple, and see the conquests which ii
makes on every side. Thus--it was
but few years since, that the radi-
cal sentiment in behalf Of free white
labor was evoked out of the seething
pool of negro agitations, north as
we'll as south, and already we find
it taking full possession of the minds
of the people, and subordinating oil
the technical diverSities Of parties and
politicians to its vital energy and
practical application. The truth was,
in the past, men had contended with
each other so long, from the mere
fact of being in opposition, that they
continued to fight for shadows and
neglected the substance of things. -
Time had settled their old issue, and
yet they talked on about banks and
tariffs, oblivious that new age with
its social antagonisms, and questions
to be settled had come upon them
Both sides laid claim to conservatism,
and both were stone blind to demands
of the people requiring immediate So
luton. Political division had changed
from theoretical to practical problems
from speculative State-rights phi
losophies to real human rights mat
ters. When utterancs was once Civ
on therefore to the true speech which
was struggling for expression in the
social body, it is not wonderful that
it should have been echoed back from
one end of the land to the other, and
that it's oracles should have displaced
the mumeries of elfete politics. This
may account somewhat for the sudden
hold which the free labor movement
has taken upon the mind of the nation.
1t is the exponent Of individual as
we'll as national progress, and illus
trates tho social, the domestic, the in
,dustrial aspiration of the great body
of American citizens. 1t has no sec
tionalism, for labor is cosmopolitan,
and freedom is International; it has
against it only fragmentary prejudi-
ces, and cultivated exclusiveness.
We have been lead to make this
reference to the vast and unprecedent-
cd expansion of the cause of free la
Dor within the past two years by no
ting the prominence given to the sub
iect in many ofthe executive commu-
nications of the different states which
have been recently put forth. AS a
specimen of those to which we allude,
the subjoined extract from the mes
sage Of the governor Of New Jersey,
may be perused with profit. He says;
o"The angry discussion Of slavery
continues to be the only serious OBJ
stacle to the internal quiet Of the re-
public. While nothing is better set
tied in history than the fact that the
early statesmen who laid the founda-
tions of the national government, re-
garded the gradual extinction Of this
evil as certain yet the original de-
parture from right, so far from being
corrected by time, has been widening
ever since, and chief contest Of po-
litical parties is now upon the ques-
tion OF its further extension. The
continued agitation of this distract
jug question must fill every patriotic
,Aeart with sorrow; for nothing could
be better calculated to weaken the bond
which binds us in common con-
federacy.
"The acquisitions ofterritory which
have been made Of late years have
served to aggravate the strife; and
especially was it stimulated after the
repeal Of the Missouri compromise,
by the efforts Of each party to get
possession Of Kanzas. The opinion,
too, Of the supreme court against the
validity of that compact, which re-
stricted slavery north Of thirty-six
degrees thirty minutes, SO far from
allaying the disscnsion, has tended
rather to aggravate and increase it.
"Much complaint has been made
by q portion OF the south, that the
north seeks to invade their constitu-
tional rights. Nothing can be further
removed from the truth. .tian this acI
cusation, 50 far es NvN Jersey 10