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Show 92 DF.SI'OTTS:'It infant child in the bed clothes to save it from the bullets, loaded his muskets, and q.mctly wattcd the attack. His left hand was dreadfully shattered by the first fire of the assailants; but he succeeded m ktllu~g their leader, in wounding scv:era.l of th.c re~t, an~ 111 compelling a retreat. lly th1s ttmc .Ius fncnds and connections began to collect about !tun, and a party was formed in his favor. H~d h.e been less we.~lthy, or Jess influential, he would mevllably have pcllshed. SECTION HI. Slavery as it affects the liberty of the privileged class. One of the chief branches of civil liberty consists in the unrestricted disposal of one's property. There are restrictions which are . n~ccssary; but !he. more these restrictions are multiplied, the more IS liberty restrained. f By the institution of slavery, slaves become one o the principal kinds of property; but Ill the free diS· posal of this kind of property, the slave-master at the Sonth is very much res tricted. The "sacred rtghts of property/' as to which he is apt to be s~ rloqncnt, with regard to that very snbjcct-mattcr With respet to which he considers them most s~crcd, are close Y restrained by laws of his own enactmg. . f To set a slave free, is certainly the h1ghest .act 0 ownership; the only one indeed whic.h a truly vtrtuo~~ man ourrht to exercise; and certamly the las~ ~1 which a0 person of any manly spirit would be WJ:hng to surrender. But in the greater part of the sonlt lC:if states, the master is depri~cd by law of th~ ;~~~~tinemancipation. Ilcre ccrtamly 1s a most gnc fringemcnt upon librrty. . . ·lcre3se 'l'he right to improve ones proprrty so as to II IN AI\IERICA. 93 its productiveness and give it an additional value is an essential part of civil liberty. But this is a right of which, as respects his slaves, the southern master is in a great degree deprived. In most of the slave states it is a highly penal offence to teach a slave to read. Now reading and writing are essential to many employments. These accomplishments, and others which by their means the slave might acquire, would greatly tend to enhance his value, by making him capable of more valuable services. Bnt the master is not allowed to improve his property in this way. The law interferes to prevent it. Considering slaves merely as property, here arc two grievous infringements upon. the master's liberty. But consider them as men, and the infringement upon the master's freedom of action is still more intolerable. I am deprived by law of the capacity to be benevolent and just. I am ready to confer upon a fellow being the highest boon which man can give or receive;but the Jaws do not permit me to confer it. Perliaps the slave is my own child. No matter; he shall remain a slave to the day of his death, unless I can obtain as a particular grace and favor, a special permission to set him free. Is this liberty? Is not the servitude of the c~ther as miserable almost as that of the son? The authors of these laws have plainly perceived that the natural dictates of hnmanity are at war with the institution of slavery; and that if Jeft to their own operation, sooner or later, they wonld accomplish its overthrow. To perpetuate the slavery of the unprivileged class, they have fettered up those sentiments of the human heart, which arc the foundation of morality and of all the charities of life. For the sake or brutalizing others, they have sought to barbanze themselves. Liberty of opinion, liberty of speech, and liberty of the press do not exist in the southern states of the Ameri?an Union, any more than under any other despotism. No doubt there arc some subjects which |
