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Show 4 the use of lauguage," which are the characteristics of his animated style. "\Vith these means of a powerful influence, it is sent f01 th to operate on one of the i110st momentous conconcems which can evel· agitate a Christian and a republican people. From any praise which may be bestowed on this book as a work of art, I have no disposition to detract. Jlfateriam Sllpembit op11s. With no desire, certainly, to place anything of mine in contrast with the polished periods of the American Addison, I trust it may not be deemed presumptuous, in this day of free discussion and liberal inquiry, fearlessly to examine the scope and tendency of his production, and submit my own reflections to an intelligent and candid community. I feel the more at liberty to do this, because the professed intention of the lleverend Gentleman is to teach me and other of my fellow-c itizens our duty in relation to a subject of great practical and national importance, on which we have a duty to perform that we cannot evade, and to enforce his teachings by the authority of moral law and Christian precept, to whose supremacy we implicitly submit. Holding as high as he does the sanctions to which he appeals, but totally dissenting from his applicatiou of them , I am not willing that a departure from his directions and a denial of his precepts, should be deemed a breach of Christian duty or of moral obligation. I \\ill not quarrel with the cathedral spirit in which his conmwnds are conveyed, although it may seem a li!tle too professional, because I may myself need an apology for a professional manner which it is very difficult to shake off. It 1rill not, however, escape observation that an accusation of grievous sins and the assumption of superior sanctity are apt to be deemed departures from that temper of humility, which, as much as anything, is the doctrine of Christian philosophy. I present the following propositions, to which I shall ask the attention of the reader. First. Public sentiment in the free States, in relation to S lavery, is perfectly sound, and ought not to be altered. 5 Second. Public sentiment in the Slave-holding States, whether right ot· not, cannot be altered. Third. An attempt to produce any alteration in the public sentiment of the country, will cause great additional evilmoral, social, and political. The docu·ine of the Northern States is : I. That Donwstic Slavery is a deep and dreadful evil. 2. That its continuance or removal is solely within the power of the domestic legislation of the State in which it exists. 3. That it is a breach of our highest political contract, and a violation of good faith and common honesty, to disturb the internal condition and domestic arrangemeuts of the Slaveholding States. The first of these positions has been so long acknowledged and so recently repeated, that it needs no additioual enforceme nt, and he who attempts to stir up the public mind to a stronger feeling or a deeper glow of indignation, does in cfl'ect join that little band of fanatics whose imprudent agitation has deranged the peace of the community. 'Vhatever may be the disclaimer of our author, his book does this, and in the sensitive region of slavery will be keenly felt to have done this ; and all the troubles caused by the inferior agents in this work of com mot ion, will. be reproduced and augmented uuder the influence of his authority. "\Vhat possiule benefit is to be gained by repeating, in every inflection of taste and style, and with all the gorgeousness of rhetoric , long established truisms which nobody deuics! \Vhy are we told that, by the moral law, there can be no property in a human being, when, for more than half a century, the soil of New-England has not been pressed by the foot of a domestic slave ? 'Vhy are we told that man, every lllan, however obscure his condition, is a rational, moral, immortal being, when the doctrine, familiar from childhood, is the daily and constant sentiment SJf our Christian community ? 'Vhy are we told in detail of the vast evils of Slavery ! of the moral and social and persm~a l degradation that it brings with it ! of |
