Letter From J. G. Birney

Loweh Sac.inaw, ) c April 6, 1846. $ Y Rev. G. Beckley: Sr, . E ï am glad that you have told us in ( ;hé Signal of Liberty, of the 2Oth March, . interms that cannot well be ( tood, where you are to be found in the , anti-slavery ranks. You proclaim to j Whigs and Democrats, that you will vote , for any candidate they nominale- unobjeclionable, of course, as to moral , ncter - who will come up to an ( ry creed, (properly pubiished by youj and who has the best chance of success ; and you exhort others to do so too. As one addressed bv you, 1 now speak ; and if I speak plainly, it is because kuman duly is concerned, when I will know no man, but as iis expounder. You say that the candidate who would come up to your creed, would, for all " practical purposes, " be a " Liberty man." Let me ask you, if you want to elect a candidate for any other than a "practical" purpose % If a " Liberty man" be n the Democraiic or Whig ranks, is he not in a wrong place ; for have we not said, up to this time, that both theïe parties are proslavery and corrupt ? Does not such a candidate- admitting, that there can be such an one- want the love of trutn enough, and couragh enough tojoin himself loa small party ? If the Whig and Democratie parties are proslavery, is not your Liberty man u traitor, or false, to them 1 Do you expect, if the views of the party by whose name he ia called, come in conflict withthe views of the Liberty party, that he will forogo the first, to do yours ? And do you expect that such a Liberty man will I bo honest, after election- after he has ! got your votes - who has practiced dishonesty beforc ? Have you confidence, at all commen I eui nto with the occasion, in the W hig ordemocratie party 1 Do you not believe s ïat to vote for theircandidates would bc, c osupport slnvory ? Tlmtto vote foraJ i lomineoof a party s to vote.really for the c arty and it principies Í If you do not i elieve so, the Liberty Conrention held { ately a'. Kalnmozoo, did, 1 If the " Liberty man " you want be a Domocrator a"Whig, why do you go to t hose parlies, when you can get sucli a ( :andidatc as wil! suit you, i'i the ranks ! f the Liberty party 1 I wil) not say, ( hnt you prrfcr such an ono ; but thnt you ote for him lo get, in return, the votes , jf a party, that have not regard enough or our principies, to avow them, or to act jn them. If your Whigor Democratie 'Liberty man" only equal your Liberty party man. where is, then, the reason for your going to a traitor, instend of one who ïas had the courage to avow his principies jefore the world t Suppose, ioo.and it is not at all improbable, that a Liberty man,- such as comes up, in prornise, to our creed, is found in eac-h of the other parties ? What are vouto do in such a case? Accordingto my notions, the Whig and the Democrat, noio w.i'th us, goes back to his wallowing iii the mire with the pnrty to which he was herctofore attached. But where is the Liberty party 1 In any view I can tako of your project, it is cnlcula'cd, nt once, to brenk up the Liberty party. It is, thereforc, wild and visionary, nnd ono that I was not prepared lo ex peet from the ri,:e reflection which has heretofore, distingnished you. Ifa party or person deceive us- the drst time he % guilty ; afterwards, wc Bebdes this, the religión that does not make us " wiser "-(nol inore suspiciousj ought to be re-examined. for we may be aseured, there is some deficiency in it. There are somo that ihink a " National Convention of Antislavery men, irrespectivo of party," will heal our woes, and teach us how to " succeed." But first of all, let us answer this question- are we bound lo.succeed? Arowebound to lowor our principies, till men will accept of them? We, certainly, are not : bul we are bound to act, what is more important, always according to the truth. Much of the reasoning nbove will apply to the National Convon.ion proposed - but I cannot Jook on it as nny other thing, than a fresh occasion Ar diluting our principios, &o thnt we may have a strong party in Church and in Stnlc to lean on. How very few, Mr. Bcckley, are prepared to stand, alono, for what is right, and just, and true ! To do so, however) - to the individual ia cvery tlmig. whether hn succecd or not. The Demo cratic party have succeeded, but, I know, you would not have their succes?.From an early penod ot the L.iDeny party, it took the ground, that it would npply ils reform principes - for thnt il was a reform party ennnot bc denied - to every case io which thcy wc re apolicable ; so that il should be, as oarly as possible, wliat it wanted the governmnt to bc. In ihïs way, Slavtry, and every other abuso, which the Whignnd Democratie parties, intheir slruggle for office and power, had atlempted to fasien on the governmeni, almost to its perversión.vas tobe wiped away. lt was, in tine, i 0 be, what had ncver beer seen in this i jountry, n Democratie party- a party thnt feared God, and in which a calm, considérale, and enlighicned peoplc would have a deoided infiuencc. Il wos never intended to be a mere incident of another party - or, in any respect, a " balance of power " party. lts permanency and its exccllency were to be the reason why others would join it ; why, its increase would ameliorate the government, and its ultimato success, thoroughly purify it. Thi-, the jntention of the party, was attempled to be kept up. The last Presidenlial election tried it sevorely. Bul enough of Liberty party men we.-e unmoved by theclamors which surrounded them, and the wheedlings lo which they were exposed on that occasion, to be depended on in any future cmergency, and lo be further organized, so as to render themy & the additions thal might be made to them, slill more eflective. Then, we boasted of their nnseduced number- we did, for some time aflcr that event- and even now, occasionalhj. But not verylong afterwards, many of our editors and oihers becoming impaiient of success - and thinking that it couH sooner be attained by keeping the moral quesüon of ihe Liberty party in the background, put the political question in front - considering thal more palatable than the other. Of this we may be convinced by reading almostall of the newspapers of iIvï Liberty party, and mobt of the speeches made in Cougress on the subject of slavery, during the last Bession. The masses of the othor parties, seeing our fickleness, wouldn't join us - not believ: ing, that we were to be relied on. One 1 of the first fruits of our distraction, was I the fate of what is known as, the Wilmoi Proviso, - which, had we remained a; l firm and compact, as we were, a year 01 i two ago, we would not now, in all prob - ability, have to deplore. As it was th lowest boon that could bo asked? and a' - it has not been granted,we may not expec r I higher ones in future. lts refusnl, indeedhows the degradation of liberty n our o'mtry - tho magnitude of the task of ts f rienda- nnd the keenness and tempor f the weapons they require. If :h failirc of the Proviso does not aroute th icople of the free States, the cause ot reedom is nlmost hopeless indeed. I need hardly add, that I am oppo3ed o theplnn you miggest ; and that wheth;r we "succeed" or not, [ expect to re. ■nain a friend of the Liberly of all, and ïf tho equal broiherhood of the race. And a ñ rm belief, that you oxhort js to throvv aside our strong weapon, and piclcïip a stravv compared with it, to atlack a sleoplcss and well ontrer.ched enemy with, I remain, yours, Stc,