The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-03-10
IN ESSENTIALS, UNITY IN MONIES
SENTIALS, DIVERSITY.


1t has been justly remarked that political
parties cannot be formed at the pleasure or to
subserve the temporary convenience OF politi-
cians-that they are shaped and developed out
of the political and social elements, the moral
and intellectual tendencies, and the actual wants
of society, by principle akin to chemical af
fnity.
1t is utterly idle to attempt, by caucus Of
politicians, to bring and hold together, under
the restraints ofparty discipline, elements which
are in themselves discordant and but little
less so is the effort to disintegrate and remodel
the political elements which naturally cohere
and form a solid mass.
A great party can only be formed by taking
a cherished and absorbing principle for its ba-
sis-or, rather, we should say that great par
ty is never formed without having as its nucleus
a great principle, or great interest, which is
held dear by powerful class or body of the
people. There must be a great interest, an
tagonized by another interest formidable enough
to threaten its existence or wellbeing. These
predominant interests in society will of neces
sity become the central ideas of the opposing
parties, and all other questions of minor i'm
portance will be left out of view or be subordi,
mated to the greater.
! What are these great antagonistic elements
in American society? Is there man in the
Union so blind as not to see that they are Free
dom and Slavery-the interests of the masses
of freemen, in opposition to the ambition of the
slaveholding class In vain have politicians at
tempted TO close their eyes to the irrepressible
conflict" In vain have they patched up com
promises, in order temporarily to stave off the
issues which it raises. Still the war of the op
| posing elements goes on and must continue to
go on until one or the other triumph. Free
dom and Slavery, free labor and slave labor,
cannot coexist in the same common country
even in the same confederacy-without being
at perpetual war with each other. The one in
terest demands the utmost freedom Of speech
and of the press, as the essential conditions of
its existence; the other, from the same impera-
tive necessity, requires silence, and suppression
of free thought while the conflicting interests
of the respective friends of Freedom and Slavery,
of free labor and slave labor are equally ir
|
continually demands an enlargement of terri
tory; and with Slavery this enlargement is an
essential of prolonged existence. This fact is
admitted by the friends of Slavery, and urged
as a reason for the policy of conquest and an
nexation of Southern territory. The result Of
this conflict of principles and interests has been
a perpetual recurrence of the Slavery question
in American politics, which the devices of the
ablest statesmen have not been able to keep
down.
The Missouri Compromise served for time
to calm agitation, while the Territories, parti-
toned between the North and South, or rather
between free labor and slave labor, were not de-
manded by the immediate interests of either
but as population became more dense, and Sla-
very began to exhaust the fair fields of the older
States, new enterprises set on foot for the
acquisition of territory, over which to extend
the institution. Texas was settled by slave
holders with their slaves, in violation of Mexi-
can laws that immense country, with Slavery
surreptitiously introduced was annexed to the
Union and, few years later, on the preteXt
of Mexican invasion, war was declared against
that country, with the real purpose of a further
acquisition ofterritory adapted to Slavery. The
result of the Mexican war was different from
what it's authors expected. Instead of extend
ipo SlaHnry its effect was to add new free
state TO the Union; but the motives which
prompted its fomenters are none the less clear
ly Pro-Slavery.
Fooled in this last enterprise, and alarmed
by the facility with which Freedom triumphed
over Slavery in California, the Slavery Oligar-
chy became desperate, and determined at any
rate to make sure of the country west Of Mis-
souri,, which they fattered themselves could
be accomplished at the easy sacrifice of phi GIFTED
public faith. All the probabilities were in favor
of this suppositon. The territory in question
was entirely detached from the free States, and
was bordered through three and half degrees
Of latitude by the robust population Of Missouri
which, though possessing few slaves, was in
tensely ProSlavery. But Providence favored
the right, and Kansas has been rescued from
Slavery, in spite Of these disadvantages. The
South no longer entertains the dream of ex-
tending Slavery as far north as the Missouri
|
reflect that its plighted faith was sacrificed with
no other results than to deepen the hostility to
Slavery in the minds of the Northern people,
and to arouse into action spirit of crusade in
the cause of free labor, which threatens, not
merely to prevent the extension Of the institu-
ton, but to supplaht it with free labor in the
| States
The friends of Slavery clearly see the tenden-
| cy of the times, and apprehend the worst con.
sequences from the new forces and organza-
tons of free labor, which their own perfdy
called into being. They have no longer any
hope of extending Slavery over the northern
or temperate ATTITUDES, and they have now fallen
back upon Cuba, Central America, and the
African slave trade. They desire TO extend the
area of Slavery southwardiy, and at the same
time preserve their present acquisitions; and
to accomplish both these ends, they propose to
reopen the African slave trade. The extension
of Slavery over the tropics, without at the same
time supplying the new demand for slaves from
Africa, might merely change the locality of the
institution, without increasing its power. 1t is
with reason apprehended that Slavery would
recede from its present northern borders as
| rapidly as it advances southwardly, unless the
demand upon Virginia and the other slave
States be relieved by the cheaper markets of
Africa.
Here, then, is new and important ssue-the
most important that has yet been presented
which the North and the country must meet.