OCR Text |
Show FIRST DA\'-l'llORNlNG SESSION, its force impaired. The difference in the effect of these two causes, would be surprising in the course of twenty years. But say th~ Southern advocates, we quote their very language, "admit~ ting slavery to be an evil, it is entailed upon us, by no . fault of ours. ~nd must we shrink from the charge, and throw the slaves 111 consequence, mto the hands of those who have no scruples of conscience ?-those who will not perhaps treat them so kindly 1 No! this is not philot~ophy, this is .not morality." We must recollect that the unprofitable man was thrown mto outer darkness. To the slaveholder has truly been entrusted the five talents i let him but recollect the exhortation of the apostle, "Masters give unto your servants that whi~h is just, knowing that you also have a master in heaven.'' And in the final result he shall have nothing on this score, with which his conscience need be !'mitten, and he may expect the weleome plaudit, "'\Veil done, thou good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Such is a brief summary of the argument in vindication of .slavery. A more outrageous perversion of reason and religion, has perhaps rarely exposed itself to public reprobation and abhorrence. Let us for a moment examine this monstrous doctrine. "Slavery is entailed upon them, and shall they shrink from the charge?" 'Vhat! do they attempt rendering slavery a duty-a sympathetic, disinterested duty towards the unhappy vic~ tim himself? Supposing it to have been entailed upon them, can they nol break the entailment, where they alone are interested 1 A depraved nature is entailed upon us all, yet who would undertake to justify robbery and bloodshed, or any other heinous vice, upon the mere ground of his natural propensity to crime? There is bnt one thing more odious than the oppression of our fellow men, and that is, the hypocritical attempt to excuse it, by the pretended necessities of the oppressed. As to the inheritance of slavery, that argument shall grow stronger with every successive generation. Its origin may have been our fathers' fault, but its continuance is ours, and will, if we bequeath the curse to our issue, render us at once the de~ scendants and the ancestors of guilt. But if the masters shrink from the charge, we are told, the slaves will be thrown into less charitable hands i this is like the argument of the drunkard against abandoning his pernicious potations, namely,-that drunkenness with him was hereditary, and that by giving up his daily allowance, it would only serve to increase the stock for others, who are even more desperately devoted to the pleasures of the bowl than himself. This reeling course of reasoning could never have induced the adoption of the mischief, but is resorted to, from necessity, to justify its exis tence. The least pardonable portion of these objectionable remarks, is that which wouhl claim the divine sanction of religion in aid of this earthly abomination. "The unprofitable man was thrown into utter darkness-to slaveholders have been entrusted the five talents-having been fai thful over a few, they shall be rulers over many things, and enter into the joy of their J.ord." As I understand this ve rsion, the talents were so many slaves, and hence it may be supposed, that he who works them the hardest has, according to the notion of the advocate, the strongest claims upon Heaven. If this is to be the passport, the South are generally sure of salvation, and they ne~d scarcely quarrel for its degrees. The only remaining part of the picture IS that which relates to the scruples of conscience. This is too much!! The argument from interest, necessity, and general expediency, may, perhaps., be tolerated; but I think this is the first objection founded in conscience agamst the abolition of slavery ; and, therefore, whatever may be its folly, or its DA\ID l'AUL HllOW~':; ORATION. 33 faults, it has the merit of novelty, at least. 1 despise the man, that dares thus to palter with his conscience for the support of this nefarious trafllc. ~abhor him who would impiou:::;ly attempt. to derive authority from Heaven Hself, for this earthly abom ination. T he devil , it is true, can cite Scripture for his purpo:se,-but that man. should ve nture to arraign the decrees of Providence, or to render them subservient. to the gratification of selfishness or iniquity, is to pronounce his own condemnation, in the voice of tlmt very authority to which he appeals for excuse. . But to return again to the remedies for the evil. T he last me~surc I would advise, should be the passage of a law rendering all colored children bom after a given time, free, upon their arri val at a cerlain nge. Time, and the occasion, will not nllow me to go into minule details, for the purpose of exhibiting the mutual advantages of the reform thus proposed. But they must be obvious to every thinking and practi cal mind. It is apparent, however, that, in most of these recommendations, we contemplate the concu rrence of national and state efl'orts, as well as those of individuals. If that concurrence should eventually be obtained,-and if professions be true, who s hall doubt it,-althouglt no one of these methods might be calculated to counteract the evil complained of, in theirjoinl and concentrated influence their success will be inevitable ; and in less than half a century from this period, the groans and clanking chains, and heavy curses of slavery, shall be heard, ami seen, and felt no more. The joy of our national anniversary shall be doubled, and we shall commemorate, at the same time, the achieve~ ment of liberty by ourselves, and the still more glorious extension of it from ourselves to others. To effectuate this great object, irnmetliale means must be adopted. There must be no tim e~scrvi n g, no lnkc-warmnc!ls, no ab<1ndonment of principle i let us knock constantly at the po1·tals of liberty, night and day, until our admission is secured, and our prayers are granted. For my s in ~le self, l would rather have it inscribed on my humble tomb, that I gave f~eedom to one man, than that I was the firs t tliscoverer and founder of the whole colony of Liberia; aye, or even of the continent of America itself, if it is to be devoted to slave{y. Let us but once establish a colony in the human heart, dedicated and consecrat}!d to philanthropy and j ustice, and its influence shall extend throughout the land,-and its glorious rays, like those of the sun, shall dispense peace and plenty, and warmth, and vig~r, and light and life, to this New \Vorld-Egyptian darkness shall flee before it, and Egyptian bondage, in the transport of regC'ncration, shall burst its galling fetters,-and slavery shall be no more. 'Ve cannot take leave of this subject without some remarks in relation to ourselves. That we have the right to discuss and condemn slavery, it is in vain to deny . That we have also the right to usc every possible eflOrt with the government, and with the free and slave states to abolish it, is equally beyond ~ispnte; but, nHertheless, let us ever be discreet,-for although prudence IS said to be a coward virtue, in great poli tical experiments it is worth all the rest. \Ve y ield to no man in the warmth of our attachment to this great cause i we can neither be sed need by favor, nor alarmed by threats, into an abandonment of our conscientious opinion. But still, we would not encroach, unnecessarily, for the benefit of one c138s of men, upon the peace and tranquillity of another. The slaves, themselves, _can, as matters now stand, do nothing towards their own emancipation; they may do much to prevent it, ami we shoulcJ, therefore, be careful to abstain from every measure that may be calculated to excite in them a hostile or rebellious spirit towards those to whom, as the laws now exist, they owe unqualified 5 |