New-York tribune., 1880-02-15
THE RECORD OF FIFTY YEARS.
"REMINISCENCES OF A JOURNALIST
BY CHARLES 7. coNeDoN.
rur RIRTu OF A GREAT PARTY.

o,1 .x,rst,yyry FrriISG-A MUSICAL MOB-TIIE
SouTsArIoN or TAYLOR AND CAss-rHE FREE
SOIL PARTY-rHE MASSACHUSETTS, COALITION
BENRY wILsoN-ABBoTT LAwRENCE-BENJAMIN
r. BALLErr-THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAw-BoR-
ACE MANN.
Tbeie never was time when. III most OF the
Northern and Northwestern States an anti-slavery
feeling was imperceptlble. This is generally true
Of New gland, and particularly of Massachusetts,
and Vermont. where the purely pbilantbropic SELL
liment against the relic of barbarism had some
thing of the warmth aud force of a religious con-
yiction nor should the Quaker benevolence OF
Pennsylvania, with the sturdy conscientiousness OF
Ohio aud Indiana. be forgotten. In closely-con-
tested quarters those anti-slavery men, who per
mitted themselves to vote, were frequently hu-
merous enough to hold the local balance
of power, and to be regarded by poilt-
ical leaders as at least worthy OF con-
ciliation. The letters which candidates. and es-
pecially candidates for Congress, wrote FROM 1851
to 1910, wond form convenient handbook Tor
the nse of those politicians who stll adhere to the
old ingc NOUS method of winning hearts and hands
with votes in them. One need not have long
memory to remember the day when the Democratic
party itself was far from unanimous in it's featy to
the institution of institutions, the cornerstone o
the RepnblIe-when the Whig party was locally
loud in pro,estatOn of its fidelity to Free Speech
and that Right of Petition which John Quincy
Adams truculently asserted and defended IN ms
old age If candidate was then interrogated by
handful of righteous men in his district upon these
points. no matter what his politics might be- he
usually sent back civil answer in winch he pro
fessed himself n man of Northern principles
There were cut and dried formulas which may have
meant little to those who used them. but which
meant great deal to those who asked for and re-
hem intense
Inionism were not much known. There had been
eome reaction from the hard and bitter
bigotry which maltreatcd Mr.. Garrison and
drove George Thompson ont of the country upon
the occasion of his last visit. There is less need
that should dwell, even IN the most cursory way,
upon the era of mobrule for the history has already
been written by the able hand of my friend, Mr..
Oliver johnson. The mildest and most melodious
suppression of free speech which j remember may
be Just mentioned. An anti-slavery meeting was to
be held in one of our churches, which the dissen-
tents determined to prevent. SO they made an ar
rangement. in the nature of a conspiracy, with tine
choir. to sing down the speakers. Every effort 10
organize was overwhelmed by food of psalmody
--"Old Hundred and Brattle Street and Den
mark drowned the voices of the orators who could
only gesticulate against the covenant with death
and the agreement with hell" This was insoleDt
and unjust enough, but IT was less brutal than the
tar and feathers occasionally resOrted to- safer and
more economical than tearing down the meeting
house. The influence of The GaTrisonians upon the
public heart eontinued the agitation was uDre-
strained and unendng but may be pardoned for
expressing the opinion that did not reach the pub
lie head. The Aboltieuists proper kept the North
wary and watchful and really for action ii action
should be found mperatively necessary. Ii swept
away the thin cover of Biblical texts which the
church had thrown over the hideous sum of all
villanesr; it made havoc of the political paradoxes
of Mr. Calhoun; and it prepared the Free States for
righteous resentment and sturdy protest. WHEN
the Shareholder embraced the policy OF making the
Union subsidiary to his purpose of perpetuattng
slavery by casting scorn upon the Missouri Compro-
MISE and sowing the teeth of the dragon in fresh
and unpolluted soil.
The nomination of General Taylor by the Wings
and of General CaSs by the Democrats. with the
disaffectIon of the New-York Barnburners, and the
nomination of Van Buren and Adams by the Buffalo
Free-Soh Convention, brought the anti-slavery
question distinctly before the people, aud it knew
no allegiance UNTIL after all the woe and waste OF
an internecine struggle it determined and
righteously determined, upon the field of battle.
do not think that the issue would have
been so precipitated but for the fatuity
of the Shareholders exhibited in their
persistent demand that there should be 40 discus
son. Their Northern allies did them no service by
aping their methods and echong their passionate
and unreasonable denunciatiOns. The gods had de-
termined upon their destructiOn-the last relic OF
their reason left them when thev made the election
Of Mr.. Lincoln an excuse for the most enormous
treason which the world has ever witnessed.
The Free Soil party. which sprung to life in Mas
sachusetts as a consequence of the nomination OF
General Taylor, had cause enough for being, but
III.
known Wings, including Henry Wilson, Judge Al
len, OF Worcester, and stephen c. Phillips, of Sa-
lem, joined ITS ranks, and these occupied leading
positions; but it was mainly reinforced 10y Demo
,rats whose lingering affection for Mr.. Van BuIen
had been sorely wounded by his failure to secure
denomination. 1t started in " truck and dicker;'
1t was animated by personal resentments, and it
was always hampered by Its unnatural cOnnec-
hon with the Democrats, who used it for
securing share Of the State plumber. and
utterly ignored it when questions OF National
moment were to be debated and decided. The teei-
ing which this unnatural alliance excited in Massa-
chusets kept the Whg party alive in that State for
several years. and gave it more than one victory
even after it was we'll nigh in the article of death.
] believe Mr. Wilson to have been in The main
honest but he had an incurable propensity TO man
age and TO maneuyre and, though direct enough III
his purposes. he did not hesitate to promote them
by indirect methods. The young men who looked
up 10 him as a leader caught something of his
tions Of political morality winch found their cul-
mnation in the Know Nothing movement hereafter
TO be mentioned and discussed. would not speak
thus frankly of Mr.. Wilson's public character. now
that he is dead. If had not hundred times spoken
of il, and sometimes to HIMSELF while he living.
The vice of his political constitution was that he
could see no wrong in bargains. coalitions, agree
meuts. alliances-not like that Of 1872. which
was animated by common disappIoyal of the
policy of the National Administration. but unnatural
unnecessary and based upon personal ambitions and
chronle hunger for office. II is hard 70 find fault