The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1860-11-08
why the Abolitionists Support
~ Lincoln :.
letter ERoM HON. DANIEL EssoMEs TO
HON. GERRIT SMITH. zsss


HON. GERRIT SMITH. zsss
rFrona the Boston Li5erator, Oct. 5:T
B1DpEroRD, Me-, Aug. 27,, 1850 .
Dear Sir: In yours of theI3th ults, you
deplore,the defeat of Mr.. Birney, the AAbo bo7
htion candidate for the Presidency in 1874,
and infer that the anti-slavery sentiment
has declined, because the radical Abolition
party does not number so many votes sas
it did at that time. -
With the highest regard for your NOR
al and intellectual powers, l beg leave to
point out few facts which you seem to
have overlooked. ~
It is true that sixty thousand men cast
their votes for Mr.. Birney in 1874, and
did so from sense of duty growing out
of the conviction that slavery was wrong
in the absract, and it was therefore right
to adopt measures for its abolition, as well
as to prevent it's extension by opposing
the admission Of Texas. But while they
all agreed upon the two facts, the wrong
of slavery and the right of abolition, they
did not agree upon any general plan of
operations. Some contended for immedi-
ate emancipation by Congressional enact
ments, some proposed disunior and dothers
insurrection.
AS these means were at war with the
principles of our institutions and the spir-
it of Christian civilization, the Clay
Wings, who were plainly opposed to the
extension of slavery, clung to theirorgan-
ization and hoped for the best, while the
Democratic party, pretending that Texas
would be an outlet for slavery in old
States, and thereby become means of its
final extinction, triumphed and added an
other link of its chain. TThe Wings,
smarting under the defeat, charged the
Birney men with having caused it while
the slave power, stillsin the garb of Dem
ocracy, grew bold and defiant.
Its arrogance and aggresions have
gradually opened the eyes of the people of
the free States, and they are now ready
to adept any Constitutional measures to
break its force; but they are as 10th to
accept any which are illegal or impracti-
cable as they were in 1874 and more SO,
for they now see more clearly thenecessi-
ty of prompt and effective action. Those
of the sixty thousand who are not co-ope-
rating with you may be found in the Re
publican party doing good service. They
have been engaged for many years in
scattering the seeds of truth among the
masses, until until plurality, if not a majority
of the voters in the free States are fired
with the true spirit of wisdom, and anima-
ted by q fixed purpose, not only to pre-
vent the further growth of the slave pow
er, butSto beard the lion in his den.
How can this be done, it may be asked,
without interfering with State rights? I
answer,by placing.Mr. Lincoln in the Pres
idential chair, and holding his administra-
ton to the lettsr of the Constitution and
the Republican platform. In other words
.it-may be done by placing the govern
lment in the hands of men who will have
courage to defend the freedom Of speech
and the press" in the slave States. Let
this constitutional right be defended by
the Executive, and slavery would soon
be on the wane. Agitation, which is an
other name for free speech, is all the
friends ofliberty can rely on for success.
Itis the pioneers axe, which hcws down
Ignorance and prejudice, and opens the
way for the entranec'of Of truth andsthe ex-
ercise of those powers which God has Civ
-en His children for the working out OF
their own salvation; whilelaws are but
milestones by the wayside, showing how
Ear the race has advanced toward self
government.
Every political party since the Revolu-
ton has professed, during some period of
its history, to be opposed to the extension
of slavery, and yet this monster has been
stealthily fastening its fangs on newterri-
tory, poisoning the soil and blighting ev-
cry green thing with its hellish breath.
The reason is very obvious. 1t is because
the South, by it's adroit maneuvering, has
diverted the North from it's constitutional
rights to meet new issues yearly put forth
to divide the free and consolidate the
slave States.
It is absurd to think of staying the
march of=this demon by resorting TO un-
constitutional means, or by carrying on