The Liberator

Cassius M. Clay.

This gentleman has obtained a sudden and wide conspicuity in the nation, in consequence of emancipating his slaves, making certain eloquent speeches against the annexation of Texas, and writing sundry letters touching the slave system, distinguished for uncommon energy of diction, and manhood of character. A few weeks since, on being invited to attend a Liberty party convention at Pittsburgh, Pa., he wrote a letter declining the invitation, and giving the following among other reasons:—'I do not wish to appear in the North, till I can be entirely free to speak against slavery, solely, unembarrassed by economical politics or party ties.' But scarcely had his letter reached its place of destination, ere he was seen addressing a Whig mass meeting in Ohio; and ever since he has been travelling in the free States, attending the great Whig gatherings, and (to use a familiar illustration) acting as a decoy duck' for the Whig party! How he can reconcile such conduct with candor and honor, I do not know; but I have seen and heard of no explanation from him, on this point. During the past week, he has been in this city and vicinity, making speeches on the Common, at the Tremont Temple, in Lynn, Salem and Lowell, the 'observed of all observers'—and steadily with but one object in view, a very bad object certainly, to wit, the elevation of Henry Clay to the Presidential chair. I heard him somewhat indistinctly on the Common, and to better advantage at the Temple; but, though he uttered some excellent sentiments, his remarks were made in the true political vein, and amounted to nothing more than this—that he was against extending slavery by the annexation of Texas, and, with Messrs. Webster, Choate, Winthrop, &c., went for our ungodly Union 'As it is,' and the Constitution, with all its bloody compromises. 'With slavery as it exists in the several States,' he said, 'I have nothing to do.' The slaveholders must be left to manage their own concerns as they shall deem best! I scarcely know what to think of Mr. Clay. I can only say, that he did not impress me favorably. It was evident to me that his moral code was no higher than that of the mere politician, which is so low as ever to sacrifice the future to the present, and principle to expediency. He is an enthusiastic admirer of Henry Clay, and wants to make him the President of the United States, knowing him to be an incorrigible man-thief! Yet, in his letter to the Pittsburgh committee, he unequivocally affirms—'He who enslaves the black to-day, will enslave the Irishman to-morrow, the Dutchman the next day, and the Anglo American the day after.' That man is Henry Clay! Yet Cassius M. Clay is electioneering to make him the President of the United States! In that same Pittsburgh letter, he asks—'Are you for vindicating, by deed, the American Declaration of Independence? So am I. Are you for universal liberty? So am I.' How does he prove his sincerity? By attempting to persuade abolitionists, and men of all parties, to vote for Henry Clay, who declares that he still holds to all the atrocious sentiments he has ever avowed on the subject of slavery, and that, 'so far from the success of the Whig cause having any injurious tendency,' respecting that nefarious system, it will have a powerful effect in tranquillizing and harmonizing all parts of the Union, and giving confidence, strength and security to all the interests of our country including, of course, the slaveholding interests, and necessarily excluding all others! Practically, therefore, I think Cassius M. Clay is to be regarded as the most dangerous foe to the cause of emancipation now in the field.