CHAPTER XV.

ALLIANCE of Democracy with the Slave Power-Degeneracy in a great party a great calamity - Resolutions of the Democracy of Cincinnati, on the 8th of January, 1839 - Mr. Morris's Answer - Letter from A. A. Guthrie, 3d of January, 1839-Mr. Morris's Reply-Vermont Resolutions refused to be Printed-Predictions fulfilled.

ARDENT, and consistent, in his devotion to the principles of true Democracy, it was a source of profound sorrow to Mr. Morris, to see the party, with which he had so long acted, yielding the purity and power of their noble principles, to the corrupting and contagious influences of slavery. Harmonizing, as he believed they did, with all that is true in political science, and civil government, and adapted, in their beneficent action and progress, to give freedom and elevation to men and nations - degeneracy or apostacy, from these noble landmarks of freedom, by a great and dominant party, is always a great national calamity. "A nation can suffer no greater calamity than the loss of its principles. Lofty and pure sentiment is the life and hope of a people." Decay or defection from the vital principles of freedom, right, religion, and humanity, betokens the approach of national ruin. As the sturdy oak when girdled must die, so the nations that denounce the principles of Christian rectitude, and of true Democracy, must tend to degeneracy and destruction. "If the foundations be destroyed" what hope is there that the stately temple of freedom can stand.

A great party, then, who represent the beau ideal of Democracy, whose doctrines have a natural charm for the popular ear and popular heart, and which controls the masses, and so forms the resistless current of political public sentiment, and directs political policy and action, should guard with watchful vigilance, the integrity and purity of its principles. Every interest and motive, that clusters around patriotism and national honor, and safety, and the hope of the final freedom of the world, from bondage-demands of a great party, whose creed is truly Democratic, to be firm and loyal in their unfaltering fidelity to its fundamental principles.

It was the development of unhealthy symptoms, in regard to the disposition of the Democratic party of the country, to yield to the usurpations and dictations of the slave power, that went like iron, to the free heart of Thomas Morris. With great grief he heard the leaders of the party declare, that "Democracy was the natural ally of the South, and of slavery; " and that the surest, reliable strength of the institution of slavery, was found in the Democratic party of the free States. Both of the two great parties of the country, Democratic and Whig, had succumbed, in humble subserviency to the aggressions of slavery; but to the Democratic party, with all its noble principles and professions, belongs the humiliation of yielding most to the demands of the slave power, and opening new and wide fields for the tread of the oppressor.

This policy had a development during the Senatorial term of Mr. Morris. He, as a true Democrat, could not, and did not, yield to its influence. Though it cost him the loss of power, and banishment from his party, yet he stood firm in resisting oppression, and in defense of the true doctrines of Democracy. The following letter was written, in the midst of his earnest conflicts with slavery, in the Senate; and addressed to a Democratic citizen of Cincinnati, who had forwarded to him, the proceedings of a meeting of some of the Democracy, who approved his course as a Senator of Ohio.

WASHINGTON, January 15, 1839.

DEAR SIR-I received your favor, enclosing the proceedings and resolutions, passed by a meeting of our Democratic friends on the 8th inst., at the Lafayette Hall, in the city of Cincinnati. For the favorable notice the meeting was pleased to take of my course here, as Senator, and my efforts in the support of the Democratic cause, the object of which is, equal rights and impartial justice, the gentlemen who composed the meeting, as well as yourself, for the kind manner in which you transmitted me the proceedings, will be pleased to accept my grateful acknowledgments and my sincere thanks.

The approbation of my Democratic fellow citizens, with whom I have personally acted, and to whom I am individually known, is an honor which I more highly prize, than that which wealth and power can bestow. It is my highest ambition, next to a faithful and honest discharge of duty, to preserve the favorable opinion of my friends in the State, by a constant, unwavering adherence to Democratic principles; believing there, where they are found, liberty is; where liberty disappears, or is trodden down, they are lost.

The time, the place, the circumstances under which I received the proceedings you enclosed, were calculated to make a deep impression on my mind. Condemned by the Legislature of my own State, as an unfit or unsafe Representative of her Democratic principles in Congress, on account (as I have been informed) of my opposition to slavery, and my defense of the right of petition, the freedom of speech and of the press, and the free use of the Post-Office to Abolitionists, as well as to other men; it was consolatory to learn, that those great principles are still sustained and cherished, in her primary assemblies, not to be abandoned for any local or private interest whatever. Past experience has taught us that, when liberty and the Constitutional rights of our citizens, or of any portion of them, have been stricken down, in Legislative Assemblies, they have found support in the country, and are resuscitated and sustained by the people, as common rights and common blessings, which all ought to enjoy. This reflection ought to fill the heart of every friend to his country, and of the human race, with the most lively hope and unshaken confidence, that our Government rests upon the most safe foundation which human wisdom can devise; and that the privileges and rights, which it has left free and unrestrained by the power of law, will remain perpetual with the people. The people, and not politicians, must be the guardians of freedom.

Though contemned, I am not convinced, that, on the now agitated question of slavery, I am in error. Though trodden down, I am not discouraged; because I am well satisfied that the American people will never consent that the records of the Declaration of Independence, and the provisions of their Constitutions, which declare that the natural rights of man are inalienable, shall be thrown aside, as mere waste parchment, and the words therein contained considered as mere rhetorical flourishes. No! this will never be done, to sustain slavery, or any other interest, which is at war with the "general welfare." The system of slavery is not only at war with such welfare, but with the most sacred rights of human nature.

I deeply deplore, that that spirit of proscription for opinion's sake, which is sometimes exercised by power, for its own selfish purposes, is now stalking openly through our country, with too little rebuke; that it should find its way into the Halls of Legislation is still more alarming. The moral power of the country, the expression of public sentiment, is the only weapon which can rightfully be used against these opinions. The power of the Government can justly punish for ACTS done, but not for opinions entertained; and "error of opinion may be safely tolerated, while reason is left free to combat it." The countenance given by men in places of power, and indeed their assertions made, that opinions adverse to slavery ought not to be expressed or promulgated, have stirred men, of the baser sort, to engage in mobs, and to use violence against their fellow citizens, for no other cause than an honest expression of opinion. Such transactions are not only a libel on our Government, a fatal stab aimed at the vital principles of our institutions, and a reproach to our people; but they have caused the land to mourn, and weakened the confidence of our citizens, in those guarantees of person and property, which the Government affects to throw around them.

To strike down an individual by the hand of anothera politician by the hands of politicians-is, comparatively, nothing; the waves of time soon close over the wrong, and it is forgotten, and retributive justice may overtake the wrong-doer. But when Legislative Assemblies, the Rulers of the country, strike at principles on which rest all our invaluable rights and privileges, the blow vibrates through the whole nation; every person feels its full force, as much as if aimed at himself singly. It rends the political fabric, forming a chasm which time seldom closes.

These reflections will be excused, when you remember that my opinions have been so arraigned and condemned, that they seem to be unpardonable political sins.

The decree of condemnation was first pronounced against me in the newspapers of the slave States. The power which can put a gag into the mouths of members of Congress; can prevent petitions being received in one branch, and can lay them on the table without further action thereon in the other, if on the subject of slavery, is a power not to be overlooked or disregarded in its operation on the free States. If it assumes to dictate, who shall represent the States in Congress? and if such dictation is submitted to, the so-called free States, instead