OCR Text |
Show 151 APPENDIX. plague-spot upon our national reputation .. It is ~ _si n ~ and a curse! and a shame i and we can cease to be partakers 111 the llllQtlll)' only by fa1t~1fuli.Y rebuking it, and laboring for its overthrow. That twn evole nce. wl11c!\ IS bounded by caste or complexion, is not the be ~ evo!c n c~ of Chnst. _J he fellow.ship whi ch would leave our n e i ghb~ r Ill h1s. S ill unwarned, 1_s a fellowship abhorrent to God. "Thou sha lt tn any WISe rebuke_1hy ~ Ci![ l~bor, and not suffer s in upon him,'' is an injun ction of Holy \Vnt whwh_ It becomes us to obey. In obedience to it, and to the vo i ~e of human_ny pleading for the tram pled and the poor, we have l a~w red _fo r the ~ede mpli(lll of the slave from his boml!:l, and our country from 1ts deadliest cun;e. \Ve have labored from a solemn conviction of Ju ty. From the same c nn· viction, deepened by the events of the past week, we shall cnntinue to toil. If we are heretics, ours is a heresy which cannot be bumed out of us by fire. 'Vith a cal m re liance upon God for jus tice to our princi p\ P.s, our motives, and our measu res, we sha ll go forward in the arduous work we have begun; not, indeed , as reckle:ss bravers of public opinion, but as men fe aring God rath er than man , and having the assurance th at our principles will ultim ate ly triumph over violence and prejudice and e rror. 'Ve labor not for ourselves alone, but for the best and highest earthly interests of those whose hand is lifted against us-for our land, and for the world-for the great interests of humanity uuive rsally. It may be proper for us to notice one charge which has been urged against us, as furnishing an excuse fOr the violence of the mob. We are accused of allowi ng our colored fellow~cit iz e ns to s it with out moles tation in different parts of the Saloon :-in other words, of having no particular place or gallery assigned to colored men and women. We freely admit. this; we should have been false to our principles if we had refused to ad mit men of every sect, r ank, and cQlor, on terms of equality, to witness our proctedings. In so doing, we have but acted in accord ance with the sentiments of the old fathers of Pennsylva nia freedom, as expressPd in the Emancipation act of 1780. "It it~ not for us to inquire whv, in the creation of mankind, the inh abitants of the several part~ of the. ea rth were di s tinguished by a difference in feature or <:omplexion. It is s ufli cient to know that all are the work of an Almigh ty h and. We find in the di stribution of the human species, that the most fertile as well as the most barren parts of the earth are inhabited by men of complexionR different from ours, anti from e.ach other; from when ce we may reasonably, as well as rel igiously , infer, that he who placed th em in th eir various s ituations, hath extendetl equally his ca re and protection to all, and th at it becometh not us to counteract his me rcies."- ( See Emancipation act of 1780.) It has been alleged too, that it is part of the design of abolitionists to promote inte rmarriage-s between the whites and colored people; and the false :and :absurd charge of ad vocating amalgamation, has bee n used perhaps more effectually than any other, in exci ting and arraying against us the pass ions, prejudice, and fury of the mob. This charge has been so cflen denied, and from its first presentation has stood so entirely on the bare assertion of ou.r cal.umniators, unsupp~rted by proof, that nothing but its vociferous reiteration at the present ttme, and its injurious influence on the minds of the ignorant and misinformetl, would induce us again to allude to it, as we no~ do, for the purpose of once more recording against it our explicit dental. The real amalgamators are not the abolitionists, but the slaveholders of the South. 'Vhat they falsely accuse us of ,·ecornmending to be don~ with the sanctions of morality and law, they shamelessly practise under ctrcumatancea of the grossest immorality_ 'Vere all the slave children AliUR.ESl:i Of 'J'UY .t:Xt:l:UTIVt:; C,;U!ll !lll'l"l ' EI-;. 165 of the South to follow the cond ition of the ir fathers, a work of grad ual emanc ip ation would be going on more rapidly, and slavery woultl. be in g reater dange r of speedy annihi lat ion, than many at the North imagme. T o one other accusation we will briefly allud e. It has been currently repo rt ed, that one of the speakers at the Ha ll pronounced Washington a thief and a robbe r. The assertion is utterly fal sr.. The only allusion maJe to \Vashi ngton , during the whole course of the exercises, was one whi ch was couched in terms of eulogy. l-I e was me ntioned as having e nroUed his own name among the enemies of slavery, and with the solemnity of a dy ing teslimony, in the forr!l of a will, _e~1a~c ipat in g his s laves, to have set the seal of his condemn:.at1on upon the uu qmtous sys tem. Such a re our prin ciples, and such the feelings that have impelled, and still impel us onward . We have no secr et nor ulterior views . We shrink not from the scrutiny of our fellow-men. Nay, we invite th atscrntiny. \Ve court investigation, satis fied that it will result in the diffu sion of truths whi ch we hold dear, and the advancement of the cause of outraged huma nity . If it be inquired of us what course we mean to pursue in this time of our trial, our answer is bri ef. \Ve shall move onward in the right line of duty, persevering in the promulgation and de fence of those righteous pri nciples which we have eve r upheld, confining ourselves, as we eve r have clone, to the exertion of moral power, and the use of peaceful means. We shall plead with renewed and still in<"reasing energy, the cause of the down· trodden poor, acknowledging in our practice, as well as our words, the unive rsal broth erhood of man, and that we believe, what almost all profe:Js, that" all men are created eq ual " in ri ghts, and that those rights a re inalienable. We are well aware that the worldly~wise wonld recommend a temporising expediency- a pause in o~ r exertions:-a bf!n.ding to the storm, till its fury be overpast. The rhetonc may be fine whtch enfor~e~ such counsel, with similes of the reed rising after th e blast, and the n g td oak sh ive red and prostrated for its obstinacy; but the policy it recommcntls we utte rly repudiate. The yielding reed may ris~. but it bends again at the nex t gust. \Vho would lean on it for support? 'Vho would rely on it as a prop to his feeble steps? ·~~h e pliancy which ~aves it, proves it not wonh saving. No !-ne\•e r let thts supple plant wh1ch_ see ks safety by t~ m e ly bowing before viol ence, be the emblem of the Auli·Siavery cau~e or us advocates. L et them be rather like the rock -rooted oak wluch gathers fre sh strenfTth from its resistance to the tempest, and, n eve r bending till it breaks, conti~ues to give support to those who recli ne agai nst it, as long as it can s ustain itself. Are we told of the even ts of the past week, and warllf~d of the future? Our ans wer is ready. 'Ve shou ld be c raven and recre~n~ indeed , if, when not our own rights alone, but those of the_ ensl_aved mii!Jons of ?ur sinful land,-of the millions yet. to be born to an 1nhen tance of degradatiOn anti oppression, or of libe rty and honor, according_ as we succeed or fail, are de pe nding on the issue of our moral enterpnse,_ we should tremble and falter, and shrink from the contest as soon as _1t waxes warm, ~nd thickens with diffi culty, and toil, and peril. Are we pomted to the smokmg ruins of that beautiful T emple of Freedom~ which we fondl y _hoped would Ionu have echoed the noble and free sentiments of a Frankhn, a Rush, a Be 1~ez e t, a L ay, and as we look sadly on its early downfall, ~re ~ e_b idtlen to learn hence the fate of our own dwellings, if we persevere. flunk not the intimation will drive us from our post. No! rather will we gather in handfuls, the yet warm ashes of the ruin~d edi6ce, ~nd cast them toward heaven, that they may come down in b01ls and blame upon the monster |