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Show 152 w learn that the sacrifice of the rights of 3 part of the community hlls emled in the enslavement of all. The rights of the imlividual have llC\'Cr been disregarded by any nation or people with impunity. It is ~~~ ?rdinance of Providence that, that community which violates its own prmc1plea for the purpose of depriving any of its members of their acknowleJged rights, digs in so doing the grave of its own liberties. \Ve appeal to :>:ou not for our own sakes, but for the sake of great principles whose preservatiOn is as necessary to yourselves as to us. We asl( you to look at the scenes which for the last few years have disgraced our country in the eyes of the world, and rendered insecure the rights of the citizen, all tending to one result--all having a common object-the suppression of free inquiry on a subject which of all others should be open to freemen--the subject of Human H.ights. Call to mind the preoses destroyed--the churches broken open-tlw family altars profaned by violence--the bloody scenes of ~lton anJ St. Louis-tl1e scourging of a freeman in the stre~ts of Nashvlilethe imprisonment of Crandall in our Nation'~ Capitol--the thousa·nJ mobs, in short, which have usurped the authority of law-justified ami sustained by men of high innuence, and virtually countenanccJ by the sworn guardia11s of the public we:1l. Look to the £I a! is of Legislation-to the thrice repeated violation of the Constitution of the United States by Congrel:ls itselfthe denial of the right of petition--the inl":irnous resolutions of Southern Legislatures addressed to those of the free state~, calling for the enactment of laws forbidJing under pains and penalties all discuosion on the subject of the rights of man! Are these matters of light importance? Are l.,ennsylvanians prepared to yield up their dearest rights to perpetuate a system which cannot live in connection with the free exercise of those rights-which shrinks from the ligln-which is safe only in darknesswhich howls in agony at the first sunbeam of truth that touches it? .\Vi.U they allow it to overstep ils legal boundary and trample ou the free Ulstttutions of Pennsylvania? To smite down the majesty of our law-to hunt after the lives ol' our citizens--to shake its bloody hands in defianee of our rightfl within sight of the Hall of lndependeuce, and over the graves of Franklin and Rush and Morris ?--No! The old spirit of Pennsylvania yet lives along her noble rivers-and the fastnesses of her mountains are still the homes of I~ibeny. To that spirit we appeal in confideuce and in hope. Our principles as abolitionists have often been proclaimed in the . car of the people, and may be known to all men. That they are wickedly misrepresented, and to a great extent misunderstood, is therefore not our fault. We deplore the fact, but know of no way to avoid its repetition. If an earnest and solemn reiteration of the truths we Lelieve and seek to disseminate, can convince our fellow citizens of the sincerity of our belief and the .singleness of our purpose, this shall not be wanting. But when it is demanded of us to relinquish principles which we believe to be founded in everlasting truth, and which have been embraced under a solemn sense of responsibility to our fellow men, our conntry, and our God, we dare not obey the call. Standing up, in the Divine Providence, bet\\o·een the living and the dead, we should be false to our trust if we abandoned our position. 'Ve would not willingly outrage public sentiment; but if a firm adherence to the True and the Right, and an untiring advocacy of the principles upon which rational liberty is based, call down the vengeance of the populace upon our heads, we throw the responsibility of violated law where it belongsupon that corruption of the public heart which is the certain result of a departure from the political faith of the fathers of our lanJ, and an unmanly subserviency to the Demon of American Slavery. ADDRF:SS OF TilE F.XECUTI\'E COMIUITTF.J:. I G3 The existence and the inalienability of Iannan rights, we belie,•e and maintain. Is there moral treason in this? lVere Thomas Jefferson and his compatriots guilty of treason when they declared that "all men are created equal, and endowed BY 'J'H~~LR C!{EATOU with certaio inalien~ able rights, among whieh arc life, I~IBER'l'Y, and the pursuit of happiness?" Were the founders and the fathers of this commonwealth insane and fanatical when they acted out this great truth, the ulterance of which has been as an earthquake to shake down the tyrant and the despot from their thrones? Is our Bi!l of Rights a splendid fiction, anJ were those who framed it fools? Perhaps it is too much to expect that amid the excitement of the present hour, men will look back to long acknowledged truths with a willingness to perceive their importance, and act in accordance with them; but we are persuaded that when the tempest, which is now raging, shall be overpast, as it soon will be, a recurrence to first principles will show, e\•en to our present perse<:utors, that we are right-that we have acted in <tcconlance with the Constitution of our common land, and have violated no law, human or divine. Constitutions and laws may protect, but they do not bestow HV!UAN RlOIITS. These are incident to, and inseparable from human nature. They are the gift of God to man. They are indissolubly connected with our duties, and he who presumptuously interferes with one, does violence to the other. The will of our Heavenly Father has been manifesteJ in their bestowal, and he, therefore, who attempts to wrest them away, tramples upon that will, and wars against God. American Slavery does this. In robbing man of personal ownership, and branding him before earth and Heaven as a piece of mere merchandise, it at once degrades human nature, and insults Jehovah. Its claim upon man is an oLJtrage upon his Maker. Its very existence is a sin against God, which should be immediately repented of, and for ever abandoned. The South, itself, admits that if our premise be correct, our concluflion is irresistible. But the slaveholJer has taken the ground that slavery is not a sin. Here, then, we are at issue. All that we ask is a full and candid hearing before our country and the world, and we fear. not for the ~esnlt. For the wicked casuistry of some of our Northern moralists, who admtt that slaveholtling is in itself a sin, yet contcml that its immediate abandonment would be a greater sin, we have less respec~ t!1an f?r t~1e ?older a.n~ more consistent course of those who contend that It 1s an InStitution of D1vJne appointment, baptized by the teachings of Christ, and recognised as sacred by the Apostles. . But it is objected that whate\'er be the moral complexiOn of slavery, separated from it as we are by geographical boundaries we have nothing to do with it-that whatever may be the suffering~ of the slave, or the poll~tions of the system, it is no concern of ours. No concern of ours! As ~f we were not of woman born, and could not feel for human wo. As 1f we were not American citizens, jealous for the honor of our common coun~ try! As if slavery, with its hot and fetid breath, was. no~ blighting and withering our dc<trest hopes and our fairest pr?spects; wilh 1~011 foot ~r~mpling upon liberty in her own home; and, w1lh hand of sacnlege, sta.mmg the ahars of freedom with the blood of her murdered martyrs! As tf we felt not the requirements of God bound upon our consciences, and respo.nsibilities from Him laid upon us which we cannot shake off! Amencan Slavery is a concern of our.s; for we are J\merica~ citizens. Our coun~ry is weakened in its mental, 1ts moral, and 1ls phys~eal power, by the existence of slavery. This, alone, has rendered us a his~ing and a by-word among the nations of the earth. It is a slain upon our escutcheon-a 20 |