New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-09-22


made free State and how this result has affected
our National life The title of the work is some
what infelicitous for it is in reality history OF
the Emigrant Aid Society and of the preliminary
steps which led to the winning of Kansas IL
is however, most interesting, If not wholly
unbiased. contribution 20 history from the pen
of the man best entitled TO record the facts, pe-
cause he himself was the originator and the mann
mstainer of that immigration movement which
turned the tide of Southern victory ana SET an
impossible barrier to the further extension Oh
slavery. The contention of Mr.. 1hayer III his
history is certainly bold one. 10: he does not
hesitate TO assert that the extinction OF slavery
was primarily due 10 the oTgnators of the Emil
grant Aid Society; that without the assistance
of that corporation Kansas must have become a
slave State; that the Abolition agitation. from
beginning TO end. was distinct hindrance and
never help, 20 the anti-slavery sentiment; that
Northern public opinion was never stirred to prac-
teal purpose until the organization OF the Kansas
crusade and that to this is consequently due the
whole credit of having first and etIectually blocked
the progress of slavery, and, by convincing the
South of the hoDelessness of extending the area OF
its institution, driven it TO that act OF secession
which entailed emancipation.
This large programme Mr.. Thayer proceeds to
ill with characteristic vigor directnesS and dash'
If he has waited patiently more than quarter OF
a century for the vindicaton of what he holds TO
be historic truth, assuredly he has not become
any the more tolerant Of error or disposed to con-
cession or compromise because he has bded his
time. A more startling, outspoken and energetlc
assault upon the whole line Of the Abohtlonlsts
has never been made. They, far more really
than the slave holders, are pillored as the Toes
of the Kansas crusade, of the Union, of religion,
,inf1 Of
Thayer Garrison, Wendell Phillips and their
school were merely blatant Anarchists, utterly
impractical, utterly out of touch with Northern
opinion, and fulfilling no other end than the eX-
ASPIRATION of the South, the troubling OF the
Northern politicians and The making of the
term Abolitionism" a by-word and reproach
Nor can il be denied that the defender OF the
Emigrant Aid Society makes out strong case IN
support of his indictment. That the Abolition
lists were Incorporate that they became more 80
as time passed and slavery won new successes
that they so ragged against the apathy ana moral
calowncss of the North as to grow into the DelleI
that nothing but a great catastrophe coulu rouSo
the sluggish conscience of tIlt section; that lhey
became too intolcrant TO accept any halfway
measures that they laid themselves open TO the
charge of indirectly assisting the very evil against
which they we're araycd; all these charges must
be admitted as founded in truth If not wholly true'
Whe her however the country ana the worIi n"o
An these years been under masteriul delusion as
TO the meaning and the results of AbohtIonism Z"
a question deserving serious consideration.
BEFORE passing TO it we may well deal with
tho wor,, Of tic Immigrant Aid Society. 1t Is not
peca..orv 10 dcuouncc the AbClitOnlsts IN order
that fun Justice may be done to Mr.. Thayer ana
those who seconded him. lie has shown con-
clusivclv that the organization OF his system OF
aided emigration TO Kansas was exactly what ne
cI,.nls for it, that is TO say, the FIRST practIc"I
measure and the first practicable one, lor coping
with the extension of slavery. III Is not less cleaI
TINT the struggle must have been hopeless Dut lor
the systematic colonization plan pursued oy inc
Fnieront Aid Society, for ordinary individual
emigration could not have held It's own against
the pressure of the Missouri border-ruffians. When
we remember that at the time the Administration
was itself in the hands of the shareholders; that
they controlled all the Federal offices, including
The Supreme Court. together with the Army and
Navy. that they not only could but did bring
tho whole mower OF the Federal Government TO
oar upon the few Kansas settlers: that the attef,
thounh held together by the strong bonds OF
disc:ilinc and common interest, and backed by
tba wealth and Judgment of some Of the keenest
minds in the North were more than once apparent
u, on the verge Of defeat-it must be admitted
that in the absence of the organization and help
furnished by the Emigrant Aid Society the enter
prise would have been hopeless.
Nor is it doubtful that the final success OF the
Kansas crusade virtually sounded the doom oil
Saver; thou gn this was not seen at Tie tine'
But it is necessary TO 90 back a little IN history
10 measure the full significance of tins event
Mr. Thayer lays mach stress upon the lact 'lat
The repeal OF the Missouri Compromise through the
massage of the Kansas-Ncbraska Act filled the
North with ind gnatiOn. Bat he does not appear
TO see the significance Of his own admission lhaI
the Northern protest at thus time was lar more
that Of desperation than OF intended re-
sistance At last the arrogance ana duphclty OIL
The slave rover had aroused resentment But how
many at the North then believed that anything
could be done to check the victorious march OF
slavery? Mr.. 1hayer himself says that the repeal
of the Missouri Compromise was regarded as es-
iabljsbipe the domination OF the slave power for
AT least a century. The majority thought them
selves conquered beyond hope, i'll short. and they
had by thirty years of experience become so ac-
customed to the crack of the save-drVers whip
that it is questionable whether the plan OF the
Emigrant Aid Society alone could have simulated
them enough 10 enter seriously upon the trial of
strength which actually ensued. All honor and
credit NAV be awarded 10 Mr.. Thayer for his
timely and practical conception. 1t was the one
way TO success, we cheerfully concede, and its
consequences were perhaps only less momentous
than he thinks. But 1t is Just here that the
question of the real work of Abolitionism must
he considered. for we hold that Mr. 1hayer, as an
essentially practical man, temperamentaly OPP
posed TO all results incapable of exact analysis,
definition or weight, has done less than justice
10 a movement which, with all its faults and
shortcomings. was potent influence in the forma-
uon OF opinion and an Indispensable tonic and
stimulus 10 the conscience Of the North.
Unconsciousy SIR. Thayer reinforces this view
by enlargrng upon the hatred and bitterness and
affected contempt with which the Abolitionists
.-.... .nnlind OF tho North nm less fhan al the