Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-01-17
THE Author, y
THE POST ON GEN. WILSON.

An innocent expression in letter of Sena-
tor Wilson to Wendell Phillips in 1866 causes
our Massachusetts Democrats a great deal of
sorrow Let us remember" he says, :" that
more than three million of bondmen grooming
under nameless woes, demand that we shall
cease to reproach each other, and that we la
Dor for their deliverance." The Boston Post
never hits upon the sentence without striking
fire. Once in two or three months, that terri
bic expression of moral treason" is exposed
to the public indignation in the luminous col
umns of the Post, accompanied with warnings
and prophecies of evil if such sentiments are
not steadfastly and continually frbwned upon
Strange as it may sound" says the indg-
nant Post lit is for this detestable work of
sowing the seeds of destruction, that Wilson
wears his honors. He stands in the
Senate,a AN agitator endorsed by his own State"
AS a matter of fact the statement is undoubt-
eddy true. Cato himself never said truer
thing than that. Mr.. Wilson is thoroughly
endorsed at home. But the Posts prophecies
are about as reasonable and reliable as Cassan-
dra's and have no more effect on us, skeptical
Trojans, than the remarks of that melancholy
lady had on the fighting gallants of her gene
ration.
The anti-slavery enterprise has two branches
one, political, the other, moral. The first
has political party for its outward symbol
1t works altogether by political agencies. 1t
aims at practicable things by constitutional
=.
one thing at a time. The moral duties of the
service occupy much larger field. For the
politician there is no responsibility for evils
any further than they affect the State But
the moral obligation rests upon men to relieve
oppression and pain wherever the image of
God is debased
The sphere of political action is limited by
State lines and articles of agreement But
moral duty oyer-eaps your Fictitious boundary
lines, and tramples on your conventions,
which do not respect the higher law. The
sentiment of Mr. Wilson was recognition of
the moral, not the political duty. Politicians
are inclined to apply the same rules to both
classes of duty, and are, therefore, often mis-
taken Moral truth, to those who limit their
vision to one side of the question, is sure to
seem the most radical of heresies But it is
truth, none the less.
Though the difference is apparent any in
gcaious person who has motive to confound
and obscure moral perceptions, can easily sue.
coed. Yet there are volumes Of troublesome
facts, to be found any day, which will refute
his finest logic. There is not kind-hearted
Democrat in the land, to whom the opportu-
nifty has been offered, who has not endorsed
the moral treason for which Mr.. Wilson is de-
nounced, by furnishing food to the hungry,
and moneyfto the poor, who were attempting
to rescue themselves or their friends from the
"nameless woes" of slavery. We have list
Of subscribers to fund for the redemption of
slave, in which the Post would recognize the
names of many Of its subscribers, who have
never been disciplined far treason" and Of
other good Democrats who have never been
expelled from the party.