If the main argument of this work is sound—and we are unable to see why it is not—the tables are fairly turned on the Abolitionists, who have been crying out for freedom, and the freedom of the Constitution. Enough, we trust, has been said, in the progress of these discussions, to show, that the action of the American Anti-Slavery Society, as a grand and permanent political organization, destroys that balance of individual and popular influence, which the Constitutional law of this land was intended to establish, fortify, and secure; and which is, in truth, the grand palladium of our liberties. The chapter immediately preceding brings this matter to a point.
The freedom of speech and of the press, and the rights of popular action, as guaranteed by the Constitution, or Constitutions, are not worth a penny, so long as the agency of such an institution as the American Anti-Slavery society is permitted to be brought into the field against them. For it is overwhelming by the force of its polity. No matter what may be the prevailing feeling of the public, at any given time in regard to it; no matter how many single voices may be raised in remonstrance against the Abolition movement; no matter how many newspapers may blaze away at the common enemy; no matter how many resolutions of rebuke may be passed by the Senate of the Nation; no matter what other forms of action, by whom soever or where soever, may be instituted, within the prescribed forms of the Constitution, to encounter this foe; yet, so long as the Government, which is the only agency that can treat with such an unconstitutional usurpation on equal terms, remains inactive, they will avail nothing. They are all crippled and rendered nugatory by the moral power and irresistible momentum of this regular system of means, under a State machinery, that is brought into the field. The Abolitionists know their power, under such an advantage, and laugh their enemies to scorn. By the influence of their organization, by its constant, systematic, and all pervading action, they expect, and not without reason, to carry all before them in the free States.
All the freedom guaranteed by the Constitution to their opponents is worth nothing in the scale against such a power; it is annihilated. There is no equality of privilege between the parties.
The reason why the public generally have not understood the character of this enemy, is because it came by a sudden leap, by a sort of somerset, from the religious world, with the operations of which the public, as a body, have not concerned themselves. It is in fact a foreign organized power, that has stolen a march on the territories of the Republic, obtained a footing, and gained an alarming ascendancy, before the public were apprized of the fact, or had any true knowledge of the character of the invaders; and such is their overpowering influence, by virtue of a political polity, that the privileges secured by the Constitution and laws, as a means of opposing them, are rendered utterly valueless, in any thing short of the interposition of authority.
How can the private action of individuals, how can the press in its customary forms, how can the resolutions of popular assemblies, of legislative bodies, of Congress itself, counteract the movements of such on organization? They are utterly impotent. Their influence expires with their acts; while that of this Society, on account of its systematic and efficient organization is untiring, assiduous, is every where, lives forever, and is forever augmenting its forces. The American Anti-Slavery Society can command all the money it wants, and money will command agencies of every description; money is the animating soul of every political body.
It is of no use, therefore, that the Constitutional law of this land has secured these sacred privileges, so long and so highly valued, while the same law is transcended and trampled under foot by this antagonist power. All the imagined advantages of this boasted freedom are annihilated by the sweeping claims and prerogatives of this usurpation. All our liberties are but a name, if such an organization may come in, expunge them from the Charter, and abolish their sway, by setting up a power which the Constitution itself cannot contend with, without calling to its aid the arm of authority, because the rules of the Constitution are violated.
Having discharged this duty—a sincere and conscientious duty, as we profess—to the country, to the cause of humanity, and above all, to that God whom we desire to worship and serve, we are content to submit the question to the public, and await their decision, whether, a new DYNASTY, under the form of a RELIGIOSO-POLITICAL ORGANIZATION, shall be permitted to take the field; or whether, the OLD AND CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT shall stand?
THE END.