The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-06-11
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A Nolable GatherInE IN ChlcaEo.

Are.union convention of q number ol
noted anti -slayery veterans from different
parts Of the United States Is In session In
Chicago. These men have lived to see o
revolution that none Of them anticipated
when they esp0usedr The Anti Slavery
cause. History records iewsuch wonder
iul changes as have oocured,Yithiu their
experience In regard % Slavery. Fifty
years ago there WIS No feeling on lthis
question either Nosth@ sonth. 4 Prior.to
1880 there. had bedA hardly ANY agitation
oI It and there were many avowed eman.
cipauonists in both sections Of the Union.
HENRY eLAs and d D4E1Ep sWRBsTRR
occupied very liberal positions on The
subject. Indeed, when WM. LLOYD Gar,
RIsoE was fined at Baltimore for pub.
fishing libel on q man who carried d
cargo Ofslaves from that ctty,to New Or
leans, HENRY CLAY, was 80 much Of 4
sympathizer With him that had not
ARTHUR TAPPAE, Of New York, antici-
pated him in the act, hclwould have paid
GARRIsoN's fine and released him from
prison. AS late as 1889, or 90, our
distinguished .citizsP, the Hon.
CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER, delivered an
emancipation speech in tho House Of Del
egates at Richmond, in which he took tho
Southampton massacre as a text Tor a
warning to'the peopleof Virginia oi the
dangers'to which, they were exposed by
reason Of slavery. And:even at q still later
period, in 1s48,, cx. Governor LETcHRR
aigned a note to Dr. RuFFSER, requesting
tho publication Of his celebrated Rnlfner
pamphlet in favor of gradual emanclpa-
lion in Virginia. Indeed, the real fight
on slavery did not set in until the occur.
renee Of the great contest Of 1850 on
the admission III California as a
State and the adoption Of the SO.
called oompfomIss measures. Prior! to
~ =
that coatss. 8herewss of course much
discussion Of the subject and here and
there a great deal 6lrbitterness, and as
early as 1874 the kbolitionists ran q can.
didate Of their own for President. There
had also been'consid siderable feeling stirred
up on the question Of ab6lhhiSg slaSesy
in the District Of Columbia, and here in
Wheeling a meeting was heldto denounce
JOIN G1ISioR and other citizens Of this
county for signing petitions in hyor Of
its abolition. The anti.ala9ery issue, how.
ever, did not assume really sectional pro.
portions until tho contest spoken Of, on
the admission Of California in'1s5O. The
New York Tribuns acted with the Wing
party as late as 1862, and there was no
great journal that supported HALE, the
Free.soileandidate for. President, in the
canvass'ot that year. Bit sGet that con.
test, which resulted in the practical
annihilation of the Wing. party, the
gathering storm showed itaelt very clear,
ly. The Democracy. flushed with their
overwhelming triumph, became aggres.
slyely pro slavery, and precipiated an Is.
sue in the repeal Of the Missouri Compro.
mise that Of ono. and the same time sealed
their doom and became the death knell Of
Slavery. The change from 1859 TO 1856
was incredible. The natural growth Of
anti,slayery feeling in the free States was
tremendously qulckened in these four
years by three memorable occurrences,
viz: the publication of Uncle Toms
Cabin, therepeRl Of the Missouri Compro.
mise, and the assault Of BROOKS on Sun.
NER. The consequence was that FaE.
MONT was almost elected President in
1855, having received; I ,S41, ,614 votes as
against 157,6s5 votes for HALE in 1859.
This narrow escape from defeat instead Of
becoming "a warning to the Democracy
seemed only to iufuriate them. They be.
came wholly given over to slavery,
and In 1853 undertook TO force
slavery on Kansas, and also took the
ground that the tiag carried slavery with
itlDto anthe territories, on board every
national ship, into every dock yard, and
was as much q national institution as
freedom. This issue practically consol.
idAted the free States, and two years at.
terwstds, in the ever memorable contest
Of 1850, they rose In their might and
crushed out the Democracy OF the ballot
box. But the Democracy being children
ol wrath, and ioreordAined 10 destruction,
with the iatuity Of the Egyptians, rushed
on to their fateby getting up a rebellion,
the result Of which was their own utter
defeat and the iIremediable destruction
oftheir idol-the institution OF slavery,
Its this last wonderful and unoxpect.
ed event that the Anti.Slsvery veterans
have met = in Chicago to celebrate,
They lhullded wiser than they knew
when they began the agitation Of their
views q, generation ago. > ~ ~ + 7, s..i
Many Of them endured q great deal o.
social obloquy in the earlier years Of tht
struggle! GkRR1soN was once led thTongf
thssueets Of -Bostonby . -hoWlirg mol
Andhidto be sent to jailior safety. Tn.
State Of Georgia once ofIered. . reward
of 5000 to any person who would. al.
rest him, bring him to trial and proaecat.
him to conviction under the laws Of thai
State. Atew years-ago his Lie would