Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker volume 6.djvu/245

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232
THE PRESENT ASPECT OF


that still more pro-Slavery in the South which was already sufficiently despotic at the North. Nevertheless, there has now risen up, at the South, a body of men who, when they come to complete consciousness of themselves, will see that they are in the same boat with the black man, and that what now curses the black man will also ruin the Poor-white at last. At present, they are too ignorant to understand that; for the bulk of the American party at the South consists of Know-Nothings) who were such before they ever went into a lodge—natural Know-Nothings, who need no initiation. Nevertheless, they are human; and the truth, driven with the slave-holder's hammer, will force itself even into such heads.

Such men are not hopeless. One day, we shall see a great deal of good come from them. At present, they are in the same condition with the Irish at Boston—first, ignorant; and next, controlled by their priests; for, as the Irish Catholic in Boston and New York is roughly ridden by that heavy ecclesiastical rider, the priest, so the Know-Nothings at the South are still more roughly ridden by this desperate political rider mounted upon their backs. One day, both the Irish and the Know-Nothing master will be unhorsed, and there will be no more such riding.

So much for these two anti-Slavery forces—one direct, and the other indirect.

This, let me say in general, is the sin of the politician—he seeks office for his own personal gain, and, when he is in it, refuses to organize the anti-Slavery ideas which he was put in office to develop and represent. After the windlass has lifted the anchor, he refuses to haul in the slack cable. That was the case with Webster; it caused him his death. It was the case with Everett; it brought him to private life and political ruin. Many are elected as anti-Slavery men, who prove false to their professions. New England is rich in traitors. The British Executive bought Benedict Arnold with money; the American Executive has since bought many an Arnold. Look at the present national Administration. In 1852, had he published his programme of principles and measures, do you think Mr. Pierce would have had the vote of a single Northern State? Not an electoral vote would have been given by the North for robbing the people of a million square miles of land, and