[445] inexorable as justice, as contumacious as truth, as unbending as the pillars of the universe; to “put on the whole armor of God, and, having done all, to stand.” Where, then, is our proper place in the political struggle which is now convulsing the nation, and exciting an unparalleled anxiety in the breasts of the people? Surely, not with the Democratic Party—beyond all question, the most corrupt, the most shameless, the most abandoned, and the most desperate party in existence. . . . As for the American Party, it is based upon proscription, and thoroughly pro-slavery. . . . Where stands the Republican Party, and to what extent is it deserving of commendation or censure? 1. Unquestionably, it embodies the whole political antislavery strength of the country—the legitimate product of the moral agitation of the subject of slavery for the last quarter of a century; for it is not conceivable that any voter, desirous of frustrating the aim of the Slave Power at universal dominion, will bestow his suffrage upon either Buchanan or Fillmore. In general intelligence, virtuous character, humane sentiment, and patriotic feeling—as well as in the object it is seeking to accomplish—it is incomparably better than the other rival parties; and its success, as against those parties, will be a cheering sign of the times. 2. It is sincerely, strenuously, and against the combined forces of the slave oligarchy wielded with diabolical malignity, endeavoring to prevent the vast territories of the West from becoming a slaveholding empire, divided into manifold slave States; and to this extent it is favorable to the cause of freedom. 3. It is allowed no foothold at the South, but is everywhere furiously ostracized, so that no meeting can be safely held to advocate its claims, no electoral ticket favorable to the election of its candidates can be formed, no slaveholder, even, can declare his adhesion to it without imperilling his life; and every vial of slaveholding wrath is poured out upon it, and upon all who are identified with it, notwithstanding its constant disavowal of all wish or intention to interfere with slavery where it now exists.1
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1 Witness the cutting down of a Republican flagpole in Portsmouth, Va. (Lib. 26: 171), and the charge of Judge George W. Thompson, of the Supreme Court of the same State, to the Grand Jury, that support of the ‘Black Republican’ ticket would be treason to Virginia (Lib. 26: 166, 175). For cases of expulsion, see Lib. 29: 35.
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