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Show 28 FIRST DAV-MORNINO ~ESSION, of whom was suppoeed to have been coerced into the crime. More than ten years after that event, I was <'ailed upon by Mr. Luke Morris, and lsaac T . Hopper, to defend an alleged slave, before the recorder, who held his session in the prison. Upon arriving at the scene of trial, I approached the respondent, ami privately, as a preliminary, inquired his name. He told me his name was Peter Mathias; as quick as ligh tning my boyish recollections flashed upon my mind, and as it had been currently reported, just after the execution, that Mathias had been restored to life by a galvanic experiment, I scarcely doubted, but that the man before me was this veritable personage; and involuntarily somewhat recoiling from him, I exclaimed, 11 Peter Mathias !-why, a man of that name was executed, some years ago, for murder." My astonishment was not a little increased, when he replied. 11 Come nearer, and l'll tell you all about it." If I had had any doubts before, they would have vanished. I approached him, however, when he relieved my apprehensions by the following extraordinary disclosure:" My name is not Mathias , but John Johnson. \Vhen Peter was thrown into prison, I also was imprisoned for an assault and battery, and on the morning Peter was led forth to execution, he called me to him, and said, • John, you are a slave, I am free ; here are my freedom papers ; I am going where I shall not want them-they may be of use to you, take them, change your name to l:)eter Mathias, and if your master ever should claim you, show these papers, and they will protect you.'" Of course, no honorable advocate could take advantage of such an anifice, and the unhappy man was restored to the claimant. This simple story is introduced, to show in what horror slavery is held by these wretched beings-and also to show how much magnanimity may be concealed under a sable skin. Had P eter been a Homan, he would have figured for this one acl upon the historic page, and secured an immortality of fame. My profession has furnished thousands ol' instances, scarcely less remark· able than this. Time forbids their recital. But this we may be permitted to say-that no man, who has witnes8ed the scenes that almost daily occur among this unhappy class of men, can do otherwise than hotel this inhuman traffic in nlu.!isgui~ecl abhorrence. Upon one occasion, a young mulatto was brought before the Court-a fellow fit to stand by Cresar; he was ordered by the judge, after hen ring, to be remanded. His master approached with his myrmidons to bear him away, and inquired whether he would go pe:lceably, without irons. "No," waR the reply-it was in the very Hall of Independence, and it was worthy of the place-" no; I give you warn· ing to make me perfectly secure, for I will terminate my existence with the first opportunity. Liberty or death, is my motto." But these, and such as these, are the sufferingR of men, ami the tlignity with which they bear them, seems 10 alleviate their dis tress. But who shall describe the sulferin~ the affliction of the female heart. I have seen the mother torn from the child of three weeks old, and from that age up to maturity; T have seen the wife dragged from the husband, and the bus· band from the wife, while beasts would hardly have been separated without compunction ; I have seen the prime of life and decrepid age torn from our Foil; I have mora than once hesitated whether to take defence for the children, when the mother was a captive, on the principle that slaYery tvith her, was better tha•t liberty wit/tout her. llorril>le alternath·e. ln the famous case in Mount Holly, which occupied a fortnight, a husband, wife, and four children, were claimed, all upon diffe rent. rights. The case, it is true, resulted in the discharge of all, and in the 01itigation of some of the severest feature~:~ of slave jurisprudence, but it was an awful scene to those who thought of, while they looked upon it. The revered DAVID PAUL 11ROWN1S ORATION. 29 Shipley was the companion of my labors upon that occasion, and to bis exertions was their preservation mainly allribu table. Since then he has gone to his reward; and if prrtctical virtue, if untiring benevolence towards this unhappy race, give any assurance of the hereafter, he has been gathered to the society of the just made perfect, while his name on ertrth .shall, in itself, be an inheritance to his ch ildren, far beyond all considerations of wealth. ln the annals of the times he was comparatively obscure, because his merits were unobtrusive; but s till, the thousands of the poor and friend· less Africans, who followed him to the house appointed for all living, and the tears that spontaneously moi.stencd the sod that covered him, bore richer testimonials to his inherent worth, than the proud, pampered, and luxur ious tyrant, who builds his elevation upon the downfall of his species, can ever hope to enjoy. But to return from this digression. I confess, that wilh a11 my devotion to the great cause of human freedom, still, if it were left to me to strike ofr the chains of slavery instantly, and with a s ingle blow, 1 should hesitate before that blow was struck. Hesitate, not for myself-not for the safety or security of the government-not for the probable effects of the measure upon society or upon tl1e slave states, but for the slaves themselves. They arc not, as a mass, morally or intellectually, in a condition qualifying them for so sudden and important a change. 'l'he flood of light that would pour in upon them, would prove too powerful for their long-benighted vi~ion; or, in other words, they might surfeit in the excess of joy. Nevertheless, we shonlt.l contend for immediate emancipation, because the system of de· lays is dangerous to this enterprise. Immediate emancipation cannot result from immedi:"ttc causes; but the urgency of those causes will bring it about, assuredly, in good season; and, unUer the blessing of Heaven, even the seed sown to-day, may produce an abundant harvest in all time to come. \Ve should contend for this doctrine, because it is the most effective. It cannot, we agree, succeed to the desired extent; but it will succeed better than those projects, that claim but little in the first place, and eventually relinquish tftat, for the purposes of conciliation. 'l'he conciliation that rests upon an abandonment of principle, is prostitution. It renders opposi· tion obdurate, and diminishes the prospect of future success. I.et us not, howe ver, difl"er about me re terms. Exchange the word immediate forcertain. \Ve will not quarrel as to a month, or a year, or twenty years, if our antagonis ts will only concur with us, in reducing the liberation of the slaves to an actual certainty. E xperience in Antigua, Barl>adoes, and Jamaicn, would instruct us, it is true, to avoid qualifications in emancipation ; but if the great object can be accomplished, even under some restrictions · not vitally aU'ecting its character, no man is so unreasonable as to refu8e, upon such terms, to unite in almost any measure proposed. How then is that object to be accomplished? Assuredly not by colonization. The experiment has been made, and has failed- fearfully failed. We need not refer to the waoton expenditure oflife-lo the souls that shall meet us at count-to the means lavished, and wnsted-to the hopes ripenetJ, and bbsted. The timeless tenant of the "narrow house" proclaims itand the execrations of sufl'ering thousands point to L iberia, as the frui tful ~ou rce of irremediable woe. That colonization might prove a \'aluable auxiliary to liberty, we are not prepared to deny; but that such colonization, thus conducted-thus condemned, can C\'er be productive of beneficial re-· suits, it is madness to assert. Nor is it merely on the score of its doing no gooJ, that it is objectionable-but that it actually does harm. Harm, not simply in antet.lating the doom of thousands who have ronfided in itif, indeed, compulsion may l>e ealled confidence-but in withdrawing altf•n· |