.D37 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS II I. II. I Jlllbini I illlh lllilll nil nil illl lit 011 783 263 6 HOLUNGER pH8J MILL RUN F3-1543 E 400 .D37 Copy 1 SOUTH IN DANGER. KEAiy BEFORE YOU VOTE. '7 • THE DEMOCRATIC ASSOCIATION, WASHINGTON, D. C. There never was a period when the South was in so much danger as at this moment. To procure the Abolition vote for Henry Clay, we will show that the Whig party of the North, their leading press- es, legislative bodies, and statesmen, have denounced the 3«uth, they have held up slavery as a crime, they have promised a speedy union ta effect its overthrow with the Abolitionists, and have joined with them in holding up the Soitb to obloquy and reproach. The means used by this new coalition are to represent the peo- ple of the South to their sister States and to the world as disgraced and degraded by the institution of slavery, and as unworthy of Christian communion and social intercourse. Already this demoniac feling has dissolved the Methodist Church, and other American chorches are threatened with a similar fate. The ob- ject is te taboo Ihe South, to render us infamous, to put the mark of Cain upon our forehead, and to deprive us of character first, as the means of despoiling us of our property afterwards. Men of the South, the effort is to disgrace and degrade you and your children for- ever. That such a party exists in the North, is con ceded. They denounce you in their presses, petitions, aa«l speeches, as man-stealers, as robbers, as flesh-job- bers, as slave-breeders, as convict criminals, as vile and infunaus, as unworthy of Christian or social commu- nion, and, finally, as existing only by sufferance as a pert of the Union. Now if, as we shall demonstrate, the party which thus denounces the South is courted by the Whig party of the North, if they are assured, as we shall show, by the Whigs of the North, that their views are identical with those of tlie Abolitionists, that they are only using different means to accomplish the same object, and that the abolition of slavery will be more certainly effected by the election of Clay than that of Birney, surely you cannot continue united as a party with the Whigs of the North, who thus join with your enenies to disgrace and degrade you. If the leaduDg Whig statesmen of the North denounce you a« culprits and criminals, and immediately succeeding tfaia denunciation, these your avowed enemies are no- aiinated and elected as Governors, as members of Con- gress, and of the State liCgislature, by the Whig party of the North, can you continue united with such a p«rty, and if you do, are not your own votes joined with those of your enemies in subjecting you to dis- grace and degradation. But let us to the proof; And we extraot from the National Intelligencer republished » Ihe Liberty Legion, the following address on the subject of TexaSjby twenty-one members of Congress, aM fHends of Mr. Clay, all of whom, since their con- demnation of you, have been sustained by the united vote of the Whigs of the North. "We hesitate not to say, that annexation, effected by any act or proceeding of the Federal Government, or any of its departments, would be identical with disso- lution. It would be a violation of our national com- pact, its objects, designs, and the great elementary principles which entered into its formation, of a cha- racter so deep and fundamental, and would be an at- tempt to eternize an institution and a power of nai urc so unjust in themselves, so injurious to the interests and atv horrent to the feelings of the peo[)le of the free States, as. in our op inion, not only inevitably to result in a Jt Heart, Fiialer, Washington Citj. dissolution of the Union, but fully to justify it; and we not only assert that the people of the free States "ought not to submit to it," but we say. with confi- dence, they would not submit to it. We know their present temper and spirit on this snbject too well to believe for a moment that they wtjuld become purtictpt criminis in any such subtle contrivance for the irreme- diable perpetuation of an institution which the wisest and best men who formed our Federal Constitution, as well from the slave as the free States, regarded a» an evil and a curse, soon to become extinct under the operation of laws to be passed prohibiting the slave- trade, and the progressive influence of the principles of the Revolution." John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts; Seth it. Gates, of New York; WilUam Slade, of Vermont; Wil- liam B. Calhoun, of Massachusetts; Joshua R. Gid- dings, of Ohio; Sherlock J. Andrews, of Ohio; Natha- niel B. Bordon, of Massachusetts ; Thomas C. Chit- tenden, of New York; John Mattocks, of Vermont; Christopher Morgan, of New York; Joshua M. How- ard, of Michigan; Victory Birdseye, of New York; Thomas A. Toralinson, of New York; Staley N. Clark, of New York; Charles Hudson, of Massachu- setts; Archibald L. Linn, of New York; Thomas W. Williams, of Connecticut; Truman Smith, of Connec- ticut; David Bronson, of Maine; George N. Briggs, of Massachusetts; and Hiland Hall, of Vermont Washingtox, March 3, 1843. Of the Whig members of Congress who signed thia address, (for it was scorned and denounced by the De- mocrats,) each one was elected by the Whig party, eaek of them is still a Whig, an ardent friend ofHenry City, and each of them has been sustained since this denuncia- tion of the South by his Whig constituents of the North, thus eadorsing these libels upon us and our institutions. These Whig members of Congress denounced slavery "as an evil and a curse," as an institution "unjust," "injurious to the interests and abhorrent to the feelings of the people of ihe free States," and, fin&'.!y, tk 'y de- clared that the attempt to susuin it by the annexation of Texas, would "fully justify a dissolution of tk« Union." If these charges are true, they disgrace and de- grade the South. Yet they were made by 21 leadioe Whig friends of Mr. Clay in Congress, and endorsed subsequently by their Whig constituents. Nearly all of these twenty-one members were sustained for le-elee- tion by their Whig cmstituents; or those who did not return again to Congress, they elevated to higher 8|«- tions. Thus, Mattocks, in Sept. 1843, and Slade, ia Sept 1844, were elected bythe Whigs as Governors of Vermont, and Briggs, in Nov. 1843, as Governor of Massachusetts. Such are the allies with whom Ihs Whigs of the South are asked to co-operate in tha election of Henry Clay. Such is the party in the North whom the Whigs of the Sjuth are asked t» place in power, thus sustaining the eiiemies who de- nounce, instead of I heir friends, the Democracy ofthel North, who sustain and defend the Soutband their in-j stitutions. Mr. Giddingi, of Ohio, one of the twenty-one Whig I members of Congress who issued the above address, in his speech in Congress, on the 1st May. 1844, agaiosi the annex^lUoa of Texas, says; / ■pv "A long life of public service, in which he (Mr. Clay) has shown himself honest and independent, gires the country the best possible assurance that he Whig rAnxr, and that ]«xeRo EMAScirATinN ii among the great works to which that »a»tt is tk- voted, and you may rest assured that the echo frow will maintain those rights to which I have alluded, and the green mountains will be the most cheering tounc will ivipe out the foul disgrace already brought upon car national character, by attempting to make slavery and the slave-trade a subject of national support Mr. Birney, if elected, and were in possession of Mr. Clay's talents and experience, could bo iro moiie." W. H. Seward, the last Whig Governor of N. York and an ardent supporter of Mr. Clay, thus speaks and writes in the name, and with the sanction, of the entire Whig party of New York. The New York Tribune, a leading Whig and Clay organ, of August 5, 1844, con- tains the letter of Gov. Seward of July 8, 1844, to the Whig mass meeting of Waterville, published and en- dorsed by them as a part of their proceedings, in which he says: "Our adversaries (the Democrats) are broken up in their central councils, and in their caucus cohe- sion. They have committed themselves, beyond re- treat, to the extension and fortification of human sla- ''ery" — that is, to the acr/uisition of Texas, and he concludes by saying : "Once compel our countrymen to admit that the Whig paiity are, (is Ihoy truly are, the PAHTY OP EMANCIPATION and of progress, and we shall no longer have to complain of any portion of our fellow-citizens, that they strike down the arm which upholds republican institutions, and controls them for the public welfare.' In his speech of'l3th July, 1844, to the great Whig Syracuse Convention of New York, and received by tliem with unbounded afiplause, Governor Seward says to that portion present who were Abolitionists: "I have always believed and trusted, that the IVhigs of America would come up to the ground you have so nobly assumed. Not that I supposed, or believed, they would all at once, or from the .same impulses, reach that ground. But that the progress of events would surely bring them there, .ind they would as- sume it cheerfully. That consummation has come. All that is dear to the Whigs of the United Stales, in regard to policy, to principle, and to administration, is now involved with yonr own favorite cause, in the pre- sent issue, upon the admission of Texas into the Union. You have now this great, generous, and triumphant party on the very ground to which you have invited them, and for not assuming which, prematurely, you have so often denounced them;" and he adds : "Tl: security, the duration, the extension of slavery, all de- pend on the annexation of Texas. How, then, can any frieiu/ of emancipaHon vole for (Polk) the Tex- as candidate, or withhold his vole from (Clay) the Whig candidate, without exhibiting the mere caprice of faction." t-'uch are the open appeals of the Whigs of the North, through their meetings, presses, and leaders, to the Abolitionists, to vote for Mr. Clay, and overthrow slavery. The Sentinel says: "What gives Gov. Seward some show of right to endorse tor the opinions of Henry Clay, is that, in all probability, in case of Mr. Clay's election to the Presidency, Mr. Seward has been designated to CM the responsible of- fice of Secretary of Slate." Gov. Seward's letter, giv- ing the pledge for Mr. Clay, daled Auburn, June 12, 1844, and addressed to the central Whig committee of the State of Vermont, is as follows: "Renominate John Maltocks, (for Governor,) or if, for his conve- nience, or the public interest, -it, be convenient to change, then nominate some such (rue liberty-loving Whig, and renew your declaration that the extension of human elaveiy is at war with the jnHncipks of the thai ever reached fMr. Clay J the saoe oi Ata-i lAXD." Well, the Whigs of Vermont did nominate for Governor William Slade, a most bitter Abolition- 1 ist, and did renew their Abolition resolutions. M; 1 Slade was, when Mr. Clay was Secretary of State, one of his confidential clerks, and, in his letter of July 1844, accepting the nomination of the Whigs for (n vernor of Vermont, Mr. Slade says: '•! rejoice to sm that I believe Henry Clay has, arid will do mart U'j ABOLISH sLAVERT IN THIS Union than any oiheA\ ■man." In his letter to the Whig mass convention ol Sheldon, of 13lh July, 1844. published and endorsed by them, Mr. Slade says: "The Whig party occupy, at this moment, a position of unparalleled interest. Be- sides their advocacy of the measures to which they have long been commited, they constitute, to all present practical purposes, the true 'Liberty party' — because, with their great leader, they are coming to the rescue of the Union, by resisting the consummation of a scheme, whose avowed object is, to augment the power of slavery, and fasten its rule irrevocably on th<.( country. "But there is a new and fearfully important ques- tion which has been suddenly thrown before the coun- ' try, to be decided in the present contest. I mean the question of annexing a foreign nation to our Confede- racy — a question involving, as it seems to me, nothing • less than the very existence of this Union. The' consummation of this project, which awaits the tri- umph of our opponents in this year's contest, will be tantamount to an act declaring the Union dissolved;^ and Mr. Slade adds: "I need not say that the euccea of our opponents in this Presidential election would be the success of this measure. Their candidate has been selected for the express purpose of carrying it. He is committed to it irrevocably. And where iy Henry Clayl Opposed to if, and opposed for rea.wns of perpetual force." The hading Whig organ of New York, the Tribune, characterizes this letter as "a com- manding expression of lofty sentiments and important tiuths." The same paper of the 6th July, contains the letter of June, 1844, of John Reed, the Whig Lieu- tenant Governor of Massachusetts, in which, af- ter denouncing Polk and Dallas as "ultra im- mdiate re-annexation Texas men," denouncing the Texas letter of Mr. Walker, Senator from Mississippi, as a " bold and ingenious appeaj to ignorance and prejudice, and a "shinder upon the free negroes," and describing Mr. Walker as the "President maker, the master spirit who dictated ioi controlled the measures and result of the Baltimore ConventioB," Governor Reed says: "Massachusetts is anxious to prevent the annexation of Texas, because such annexation would be a palpable violation of the Constitution ; because it would increase, and enlarge, and perpetuate the slave territory and stave power. "They will endeavor, and I have no doubt will he successful, in giving their electoral vote for Messrs. Clay and Frelinghuy.sen, for President and Vice Presi- dent." "They would reject the proposition to annex Texas to the tjnited States, because it is unconstitutional and unjust, and above all things would avoid the secret, cunning, insidious, base machinations of the Texas policy ofthis day of dishonor and disgrace." "Will you, who denominate yourselvessf the Liberty party, examine and consider the points and euggee- lions I have Tentured to mike. I beg yon to come to tke rescse. Participate in tlie great reTolulion anil reform which I trust in God is about to take place. You cannot choose Mr. Bimey. We are, as far as I know, agreed in our political views, as to the policy of the Government generally, and most assuredly are agreed as to the awful coii-ixiuences which would inevitably result in the event of the annexation of Texas. If Mr. Polk is elected, Texas will be annexed. I repeat, unite with us and share the glory of defeating llie Texas plot, and saving the country. In reviewing these things, I have often expressed the opinion, that at least a portion of the Liberty party would unite with us in the choice of President and Tice President. / take satiifadion in rherishing the hope. Very respectfully, JOHN REED." The New York Tribune of Auf;ust contains I he letter of John Quincy Adams, dated July 29, 1 i U in which speaking of what he calls ''the slave mongering Texas treaty," and the determination of Ingland to abolish slavery in Texas and throughout the world, he say.^: " We are yet to learn with what ears the sound of the trumppt of slavery was listened to by the British Queen and her ministers. We are yet to learn whether the suc- cessor of Flizabpth on the throne of England, and her Burleighs and Walsinghams, upon hearing that their avowed purpose to promote universal emancipation and the extinction of slavery upon the eaith is to be met by the man robbersof our own country with ex- terminating war, will, like craven cowards, turn theii backs and flee, or eat their own words, or disclaim tke purpose which they have avowed." At the great "Whig mass meeting at Springlield, Massachusetts, on the lOth August, 1844, Mr. Choale, the Whig U. S. Senator said: "Does not every stockjobber, land- jobber, andJJeshJobber. who clamors for annexation, udderstanAperff ctly thathe aids his objects by choos- ing Mr. Polk? The election of Mr. Polk will or may annex Texas as a territory. The election of Mr Clay defeats or-iposlpones it indefinitely. Read his letter upon this subject, observe the broad and jufr- BKMipni grounds of exclusion which he there sketches: advert to the wellweiglud i\ec\&faiion, thai so long as any considerable opposition to the measure shall be manifested he will resist it, and you cannot tail to see, that unless you yourselves, unless Massachu- setts, and Vermont, and Ohio, should withdraw their opposition, for his term at least you are safe, and all are safe. That letter, fn my judgment, makes him a tittle to every anti-Texas vote in America." Such is the view taken by Mr. Choate, the Whig U S. Senator from Massachusetts, in favor of Mr. Clay, and against Texas, and against the people of Uie Sonlh, whom, in the language of the Abolition jour- nals, he complimeutB with the title Of "flesh joe- »ER." Mr. Webster, the gieat Whig leader in the North, addressed the tame meeting, and thus appealed di- rectly to the Abolitionists in favor of Mr. Clay : "If the third party, as itis called, {the Moiiiioniils! ) will but unite witJi the Whigs in deleating a measure which both alike condemn, then, indeed, the voice of Massachusetts will be heard throughout the Union " "If there be one person belonging to that third party here, of him I would ask, what he intends to do in this crisis? If there be none, let me request each one of you who may know such a man, to pu* the question to him when you return home. No one <:an deny, that to vote for Mr. Polk if to vote for the annexation of Texas, or if he should deny, it is not less true. I tell you, that if Polk is elected, annexation follows inevitably!" And Mr. Webster adds . "The gr«at foudameutal everlajstiog objecQoQ lo the annexation o{ Texas is, that it is a scheme for the extension of the slavery of the African race." But in a still later speech to the great Whig mass meet- ing at Boston Common, on the 19th September, 1844, Mr. Webster said: "There is no disguising it. Itis eilher Poik and Texaa, or neither Polk nor Texas. On the other siJe is Henry Clay. His opinions have been expressed on this subject of Texas." "WelL then, gcn'lemen, I for one, say that under the present circninstancps of the case, I give my vote heartily for Mr. Clay; and I say I give it, among other reasone, because he is pledged against Texas. With his opinions on mere incidental points, I do not now ir can to hold any controversy. I hold, unquestion- ably, that the annexation of Texas does tend, and will tend to the existence and perpetuation of Af- lican slavery, and the tyranny of race over race op this continent, and therefore I will not go for it." "Henry Clay ban said thathe is against annexation unles.i it is called for by the common consent of tke country, dind that he is against Texas being made a new province against the wishes of any considerMe number of the.^e States. Till then he holds himself bound to oppose annexation. Here is his pledge, and upon it I lake my rtand. He is a man nt .^_ honor and truth, and will redeem his pledge. Yas, gentlemen, we take him at his word, and he dare not lorfcit that word." This speech of Mr- Webster is since Mr. Clay's last Texas letter, and in no one of which does be withdraw his pledge against the anexation of Ttxas, "ifopposed by any considerable number of States;" and, as the Whig States of the North will for- ever oppose it, Mr. Webster says "here is his pledge, and upon it I take my stand." Mr. Web- ster Tinight have added, as other Whig orators of the North have done, that unless Mexico consents, Mr. Clay is also pledged to oppose the annexation of Texas. Now, Mexico, with her debt of eighty-four millions of dollars, due in England, is as completely under British influ.'nce as if she were a Biitish province; and lo ask the consent of Mexico, is(o ask the consent of England, which we all know will never be granted. Among the items of news brought by a late steam packet from England, and repub-- li'shed in the National Intelligencer is the following oflicial announcement: "The Queen (Victoria) has cimferied the Grand Cross of Charles III, on Santa Anna, President of the Republic of Mexico." Sueh are the honors conferred by England on Santa Anna. for threatening war upon this country, if we persisted the annexation of Texas. And we are to ask tl»e consent of Santa Anna, now a British nobleman Well, then, might Mr. Webster say, that the pledge of Henry Clay against the annexation of Tex»« would never be forfeited, for a considerable number of the Slatei would forever oppose the annexation; and Mexico, governed by the counsels of England, would never consent to it; and were not this pledge of Mr. Clay certain and reliable, he would never receive •!>* support of the Whigs of the North. Among the res- sons urged by Mr. Clay against the annexation of Texas, are the legislntive resolutions of Massachusetts and Vermont. Now on what grounds do these States oppose the annexation ? Upon Abolition and anti- slavery grounds. Thus the Legislature of Massachu- setts opposed the annexation of Texas, upon the ground, as set forth in their first set of resolutions, that it would "strengthen and extend the evils of a system (slavery) which is unjust in itself, iu striking contrast with the theory of our in«titrons;lo the tlave," and to captha climax he adds, "no posiible contingency can make it right." What stronger encouragement can Abolition ask than this! Men of the South, do you consider that you, as charged by Mr. Clay, are offering "« grievous wrong to the slave V If so, write the irrevocable sentence of yoar own acknowledged guilt and self-dagradntion, by electing to the hi^eat office in your gift, the very maa who has tlwis con- demned, rebuked, and denoanced you. .\nd when you have done the deed, and the rejoicing shouts of Vermont, and Massachusetts, and the other Whig States of the North, triumphant, by your aid, over yanr friends the prostrate Democracy of the North, shall proclaim to you, in the language of your Presideat, ABOLISH SLAvsKT, which you yourselves will thiM have declared "a gbikvoos waoNo to thk slays," " AN'o sn possible 6«vtihgknct can jkakb it RIGHT," what will be your answer, and how will yott escape the sentence of your own self-condemnation 1 Reflect, then, Whigs of the South, our brethren and fel- low-ciliiens, pause and consider well all the dreadfal consequences, before you sink us all together into one common abyss of ruin and (!»><»»" J—- - - LiBRftRV OF CONGRESS Chairman. > an 783 253 eta^, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 011 783 263 6 HOLLINGER pH 8J MILL RUN F3-1543 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 011 783 263 6 HOLUNGER pH8J MILL RUN F3-1543