OCR Text |
Show 66 classes here, with the like classes at the South. The tide of faShion, no unimportant influence even in a republic, sets strongly against anti-slavery efforts. Another cause is, our position in regard to the colored race .. In Europe, the negro is known chiefly by report, _an~ IS, therefore, easily recognised as a man. His humamt~ ts n.eve~ questioned. Still more, he is an object for the tmagmahon and the heart. H e is known only as a wronged, suffering man. He is almost a picturesque being. Thousands and thousands in England, at the mention of the African slave, immediately recall to their minds the most affecting figure of the negro, as Darwin portrayed him, touching th~ e~rth with one lmee, lifting· up his chained hands, and exclmmtn~, "Am I not a man and a brother ? " To us, the negro IS no creature of imagination. We see him as he.is. There is nothing picturesque in his Jot. On visiting the slave States, we see him practically ranl<ed with inferior creatures, and taking the rank submissively. We hear from him shouts of boisterous laughter, much oftener than sighs or groans ; and this laughter repels compassion, whilst it inspires something like contempt. We here have a hard task to pe rform. We have to conquer old and deep prejudices, and to see a true man in one, with whom we have associated ideas of degradation inconsistent with humanity. These are painful truths ; but it is good to know the truth. One thing is plain, that free discussion of slavery is not likely to stir up in the free States, rash, careless assaults on the institutions of the South, and so to endanger the Union. We who are called incendiaries, because we discuss this subject, do not kindle our fires among dry woods, but too often on fields of ice. A consuming conflagration is not to be feared. I have now considered the objections to the free discussion of slavery at the North. This discussion is safe ; still more, it is a duty, and must go on ; and, under this and 67 other influences, the anti-slavery spirit must spread and must prevail. Mr. Clay's speech will but aid the movement. The anti-slavery spirit may triumph slowly, but triumph it must and will. It may be thought, that, fi·om my own showing, the success of this cause is not so sure as its friends are accustomed to boast. But, notwithstanding all the obstacles which 1 have frankly stated, antislavery principles have made great progress, have become deep convictions in many souls, within a few years ; and the impulse, far from being spent, continually gains strength. There are those who hope that the present movement is a temporary fanaticism. We are even told, that a distinguished Senator from the South, on the close of Mr. Clay's speech, repaid this effort for slavery with unbounded applause, and de~lared, that "Abolitionism was now down. " But such men have not studied our times. Strange, that in an age, when great principles are stirring the human soul, and when the mass of men, who have hitherto slept, are waking up to thought, it should be imagined, that an individual, a name, a breath, can arrest the grand forward movements of society. When will statesmen learn, that there a re higher powers than political motives, interests, and intrigues ? When will they learn the might which dwells in truth? When will they Jearn, th~t the great moral and religious I deas, which have now se1zed on and are working in men's souls, are the most efficient, durable forces, which are acting in the world ? When will they learn, that the past and present are not the future, but that the changes already wrought in society, are only forerunners, signs, and springs of mightier revolutions. P oliticians, absorbed in near objects, are prophets only on a small scale. They may foretell the issues of the next election, though even here they are often baffled ; but the breaking out of a deep moral conviction in the mass of men, is a mystery which they have little skill to interpret. |