Other National Matters.—Such are the principles of this Convention on the national question of Slavery. Other matters of national interest, on which the opinions of the party have been often expressed, are of a subordinate character. These are: cheap postage; the abolition of all unnecessary offices and salaries; election of civil officers, so far as may be practicable, by the people; retrenchment of the expenses and patronage of the National Government; improvement of rivers and harbors; and free grants to actual settlers of the public lands in reasonable portions.
Administration of General Taylor.—In support of these principles we felt it our duty to oppose the election of General Cass and General Taylor,—both being brought forward under the influence of the Slave Power: the first openly pledged against the Wilmot Proviso; and the second a large slaveholder and recent purchaser of slaves, who was not known, by any acts or declared opinions, to be hostile in any way to Slavery, or even to its extension, and who, from position, and from the declarations of friends and neighbors, was supposed to be friendly to that institution. General Taylor was elected by the people. And now, while it becomes all to regard his administration with candor, we cannot forget our duty to the cause which brings us together. His most ardent supporters will not venture the assertion that his conduct will bear the test of the principles here declared. We look in vain for any token that the National Government, while in his hands, will be placed openly, actively, and perpetually on the side of Freedom. Indeed, all that any "Free-Soil" supporters vouchsafe in his behalf is the assurance, that, should the Wilmot Proviso receive the sanction of both branches of Congress,—should it prevail in the House of Representatives, and then in that citadel of Slavery, the American Senate,—the "second Washington," as our President is called, will decline to assume the responsibility of arresting its final passage by the Presidential Veto. This is all. The first Washington freely declared his affinity with Antislavery Societies, and that in support of any legislative measure for the abolition of Slavery HIS SUFFRAGE SHOULD NEVER BE WANTING.
The character of the Administration may be inferred from other circumstances.
First. The Slave Power continues to hold its lion's share in the cabinet, and in diplomatic posts abroad,—thus ruling the country at home, and representing it in foreign lands. At the last Presidential election, the number of votes cast in the Slave States, exclusive of South Carolina, where the electors are chosen by the Legislature, was 844,890, while the number cast in the Free States was 2,027,016. And yet there are four persons in the cabinet from the Slave States, and three only from the Free States, while a Slaveholding President presides over all. The diplomatic representation of the country at Paris, St. Petersburg, Vienna, Frankfort, Madrid, Lisbon, Naples, Chili, Mexico, Guatemala, Venezuela, Bolivia, Buenos Ayres, is now confided to persons from Slaveholding States. At Rome our Republic is represented by the son of the great adversary of the Wilmot Proviso, at the Hague by a life-long Louisianian, at Brussels by the son-in-law of John C. Calhoun, and at Berlin by a late Senator who was rewarded with this high appointment in consideration of service to Slavery, while the principles of Freedom abroad are confided to the anxious care of the recently appointed Minister to England. But this is not all.
Secondly. The President, through one of his official organs at Washington, threatens to "frown indignantly" upon the movements of friends of Freedom at the North, though he has had no word of indignation, and no frown, for the schemes of disunion openly put forth by friends of Slavery at the South.
Thirdly. Mr. Clayton, as Secretary of State, in defiance of justice, and in mockery of the principles of the Declaration of Independence, refuses a national passport to a free colored citizen, alleging, that, by a rule of his Department, passports are not granted to colored persons. In marked contrast are the laws of Massachusetts, recognizing such persons as citizens,—and also those words of gratitude and commendation, in which General Jackson, after the Battle of New Orleans, addressed the black soldiers who had shared, with "noble enthusiasm," "the perils and glory of their white fellow-citizens."
Fourthly. The Post-Office Department, in a formal communication with regard to what are called "incendiary publications," announces that the Postmaster-General "leaves the whole subject to the discretion of postmasters under the authority of State Governments." Here is no solitary word of indignation that the mails of the United States are exposed to lawless interruption from partisans of Slavery. The Post-Office, intrusted to a son of New England, assumes an abject neutrality, while letters committed to its care are rifled at the instigation of the Slave Power.