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Show Bi SECOND DAY-EVF.NINO Sf:SSJOS. tionist as long as I have been a ma_n-I look upon_slavery as being a great evil, and would do almost any th1ng to remove a-but, [and l1ere. comes the rub] 1 wish yon distinctly to unders tand, 1 have no sy_mpathy wnh a~olilionists- 1 do not like their measures-! believe they m1srepresent the llltt:: ntions and conduct of the mas ter and the condition of the s lave, and make the system appear much more wicked and cruel than it is ever found i~ practice. I have been in the slave states and f:leen the slaves, and I beheve a majority of them are kindly treated, content, and happy." _ . it would, doubtless, be uncharitable and cruel to suspect th~ _sw_centy of profession or soundnes!S of principle in these self-s ty led abo~IUOnl s ts,-although, if the professed frienJ of any o_ther cause gave no e vidence of love and atlachment to its principles but mere profession, and labored to m~ke that ample in the same ratio that he fell short in practice , one migh.t possibly set down his over anxiety to appear true, as a just ground of susp•cwn as to the soundness of his principles on the whole subject. Great and frequent profession ::~ are unneces.sary , where faith is shown by works .. People ~nd out fast enough that the aboli tio nists are opposed to s lave ry, Without th~1 r ta~ing the trouble of stating the fact. Nor s hould I be ~rcatly surpnsed, 1f, befo re I close my remarks, some had become so uncharnable as to deem. o~position to our measures an evidence that men do not approve our prmct· pies; and to suspect that those "' ho make this opposition are unde r the neces· sity, at the same time, of making great professions of hatre~ to slavery, in order to have it believed that they entertain any such feelmg at heart. Men as much opposed to slavery as you, and yet propping it u~ with apo· logics and excuses !-hate it as bad as any body, and yet compla1u that y~u hold it up in a light too odious! What would you 3ay of a professed C hrtstian, who should complain that you denounced ain too unsparingly, autl gave the Devil too wicked and cru el a character ? Our measures, sir,-what are they? I have never seen a fault-finder who knew. Are they injudicious? Are they imprudent ? Are they unc.hristian1 Are the y ferocious? Are they not the same which arc adopted by all moral reformers in the world, to overthrow long-standing and deep-rooted si1~s? I mistake, if on examination they be not found the very same, and 1f the hearer be not astonished that any pro fessed Uhristian or philanthropist could find it in his heart to reject or carp at them . In all mow!, civil, and political reforms, not only must the evil to be re· moved be exposed, and clearly seen and felt, and the results to be effected be explained and understood,-but there must be a connexion between the means and end ; the one must be adapted to the other, and calculated to bring it about. Abolitionists believe slaveholding to be a sin, a sin of ~he .first magnitude, a sin in all possible circumstances-that no human _bemg -can reduce another to, or hold him in, the condition of a slave, w1thout g uilt-that all who are now in this practice, ought immediately to abandon it, and restore the victims of oppression to their unalienable rights ; ant.! they know this foul practice has sheltered itself behind the broad .LEGID~ of the statutes of the nation and states for protection. "Whether these op1· nions be true or false is not now the question. They are our principles, and it is enough that the opponent admits them to be true, and approves them. I shall take this fact for granted, and endeavor to show that our measures are well adapted to make them known and felt, and thus to remove the evil at which they are aimed. I desire it to be distinctly remem· bered that my remarkH are designed for those, and those only, who believe and approve these principles, but object to our measures ; and such oppo· nent!i must not forget thE'ir admissions and auempt to take them back, when SPEECH OF ALANSON ST. CLAIR. 85 they come to ~ee our moral and political machiuery. In what docs this consist? First. The organization of ourselves into voluntary associations, ca11ed Anti-SI~vcry Socie ties, on the principle that s laveholding is sinful and ought to be Immediately abandonecl, (which the opponent admits,) in order to c?mbine our moral strength, ant.l produce the means to promulge these prinCiples. Second. The appointment of lecture rs or agents, to travel through the community and teach those principles. Third. The employment of the press to promulge those principles, and no others ; to hold up the sin of slave holding and the duty uf its abandonment. Fourth. The holding of annual, quarterly, and monthly meetings for the same pnrpose, to learn the progre.ss we have made, to encourage each o ther to persevere, and pray God for aid. Fifth. The pe ti tioning of Congress to repeal the laws by which s la \•ery is now upheld, in those sections which are under its control,-to abolish the s lave trade between the states, and to cease yielding the system any support. Sixth. The use of the ballot-box, in the hand of the freeman, to send such men into the councils of the nation, as will carry out the principles of our forefathers in the Declaration of lndependence. These, s ir, are the measures of the abolitionists, and all the measures that I know any thing about, adopted by them, for the accomplishment of their designs. Are these injudicious, imprudent, unwise, anti-christian, ferocious? L et us analyze and compare them with o ur principles and with the measures of other societies . . 'l:he first measure of abolitionists is the organization of voluntary assoc~ allon s, on the avowed principle that s lavcholding is a heinous sin in the s1ght of God, which, like all other s ins, ought to be immediately repented of and a~a~doned, for the purpose of combining and concentrating moral power, and gtvlllg it s llch a d irection as to rectify public opinion, and kindle it into a flame against slaveholding, which shall, one day, burn it out, root aud branch. Slave holding, as has been already rem:uked, has entrenched itself behind th~ power of _the national statute book for protection. How is it to be dnven from this strong hold? Can it be de throned without the same power that has crowned it ? Ami what is that, but the Congress of this nation ? J.:low can Congress be brought to act against it, but by petitions, ins tructions, ant.l the ballot-box? How can you get these machines in operation, but by the general concert and action of the people? How can you procure that general concert and action, but by exposing the wickedness and horrors of the system to be abolished, aut.l the unmeri ted sufl"ering of its wretched victims?. And ho\~ can yo~ come at the necessary men and means to lay open 1ts penetralia and bnng to light its astounding secrets, unless tl_1ose who know them, will associate and pledge themselves to scat· ter the ltght thoroughly over the land ? This is what we have done and are still doing ;-and is this an injudicious or unwise measure? So does not the slaveholder believe. . _Sir, is not voluntary associati?n to combine moral power and produce JOint effort, for the exposure of s1n, the first step toward any moral reform ? 'Yas there ever one p roduced in the world, of which this was no t the prinCipal .lever? Was not this measure adopted by the Son of God, for Lhe s~l~atwn of a lost world? Did he not first establish his religion by orga· lllz1ng those already converted into socielies, founded on the grc:1t princi· |