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Senator Porter: For The Signal Of Liberty

Senator Porter: For The Signal Of Liberty image
Parent Issue
Day
23
Month
February
Year
1842
Copyright
Public Domain
Letter to the Editor
OCR Text

Mk-sr. EniToKs. - "ILjii-tr to whom honor is due," saya our ttitcilitrent correspondent, K., ir. tho Signal of Peb. 9. - So 8By 1 ; bul wc don'i agree in the application of the principie. For an abolitionisf, K. is content wiih the smallest crumb. ín llio excess of his charity, he thinks Senator Porter is worthy of"lastng honor" for "havhg determined to oppose himself " to tho flagilious ii&sumptions of the slave power in the Senate. K. would not punish any one for having determined orí doing un unlawful act, but whndid not actually comrnit it. Why, thcn, is the baro intention, (he mere wish, on the part of Senator Porter to oppose tho stave power, to redound to his Hasliug honor?" Away, 1 say, wilh such a standard of rewards. So far froni Mr. Porter inenting lasting honor, his conduct on the occasion rcferred to, shows bint unworlhy the 'ion he occupies - shows him destitute of the firmness that tho times requiro in Senators - showg him incapahlc of adhering lo wbat he beücved t be right, when counter irtfiuences are brought lo bear on hun. h matters but little to the coramunity whelher euch a Senator is frightened or wheedled iuto impropcr coinptiances. Want of firmness, or want of judgmeut, or want of respect for principie, equal'y disqualifies hím for a public station - especially in such limes, and for such oc5asibii íts we noy havo Lefore us. No! Mr. Editors, the Lord, in his providence has oiTered to Mr. Porter the opportunity of sliewing hiinself quaüficd fur acting a prominent part iu the great events that are manifestly nearalhotne - he Iimr tried him. Mr. P. bas proved him?el! unequal to them, ond will most probably never again be favored with a similar opportunity. H-ia K. noticed the remaiks of Senator King, a slaveholder from Alabama? This knight of the cowskin had the audacity to say, or. the occasion which issued in Mr. Porter's acquiring "lasting honor" for hitn self, of a cerlain class of people, that thcy were "miserable, contemptible aud wretch ed fanalics, endeavoring to err!arrass the governmetit, invade the rightsof the South, ttud iflhey could have theirown way,destroy the Government." Of whom was this saio'? Nut of people on the other side of the globe unknown to Mr. Porter. No, but of a large class of people of the United States - of the fotlowers of FrankÜn, Jay, Rush, Woolman, Benezet - of Mr. Porier's owa neighbors and fellow citi. zens concerning v hom ho knew it to be ■ an atrocious lie, a bloody falsehood. To i i-ay nolhingofwhrvtothers - Culhoun, Beri rien, et id genus omne - said, this alone , ought to have nerved him for the righl - it ought to have stirred up every drop of bloud 'm h3 veins, and acrewed lus courage lp tho sticking place . But no, instead of this, instead of rising with the occasion - instead of al onra taking his place among tho men that the times cali for - his blond freezes, his rcosolution waverp. his visión grov3 dim, the right fades away before him, and collapsed,he falla ito the herd of common men, in which, rf we misUike nof, he is destined to remain, bcotuise he is not qualified for a higher place. 1 mmÊmmÊmmmmmmmmammmÊmm