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Show 120 TllliW OAl'-l:VENING l'IIEI::'l'ING. nnd mothers , the sons and daughters, who are prcs?nt-is not such a pl~n of abolition at war with even an imal instinct, and Wllh all parental ~n~ fih~l affection? How, as a fath er, or as a son, could the orator fin~ It Ill h1s heart to propound it_, in this age o_f light-:-in the city of Pcnn-m1~!1e very act of ded icating th1s Hall to" Vntue, I.Jberty, and In?epcnde nce .. \Vas 1 not justified, ycstenlay, in repudiating it as_op~ ress 1ve and sc?ndalous? Now, I say, if immediate and <:omplete eman_c1pa11_on ca nT~ot be g1vcn to all the slaves, without distinction of age or rdatwnsl11p, (wluch I tleJ~y,)_ then, instead of manumilling the child ren, just ice dcmund::; the emanCipation ~f the parenls fir st ; for, to make them free is to insure the freedom of the1r future offspring. Besides. it is ~ut fair that the heavy burden of slavery should be divided, instead of bemg borne by one party. In the name of mercy, let the scarred and toil·worn fathers and mothers, whose remnant of days is now dwindled to a spa!1, !So. free, ti_Iat they may tast~ son~e of the sweets of liberty and have a Chnstmn bunal ~ ~nd let the1r clllld_ren flll their places-if there must ~e a g:adual cmanc1pat10n. Dut the ommpotent fiat of Jehovah is, "Proclauu L1berty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof., 7. He proposed the enactment of laws, providing for the education of the slaves as preparatory to their liberation. . . This proposal is more than a century old-but when was 1t ~ver earned into cfrect? Educate beasts of burden for freedom ! How ratiOnal ! On one page of the statute-book, the "slaves shall be deemed, sold, taken, and reputed to be chattel~ personal in the h_ands of tl1~ir owners and po.ssessors, their executors, admm1strators, and ass1gns, to all1ntents, c_onst ruct10_n~, and purposes whatsoever;" on the opposite ~~age, th eJ-: shall enJOY the pnvllegcs of education as intellecLUal and moral bemgs 1 Fmally- 8. He preferred the p~rp e tuity ?f s l_avery to a dissolution of the Union., A heathen could exclatm, 11 let JUStice be done though the heavens fal~ . Shall an American patriot do less? VVh~tever is contrar.>: lO huma1~1ty should be des troyed. There can not be UlliOn where th~re 1s not equity, nor equity where there is oppression. To tal_k ~f prefe~rmg a h~man ~ompact abO\'e all the requirements of Heaven, IS mfatuatlon. Is 1t poss1ble, that, by ceasing to shed innocent blood, w~ s hall tak~ aw~y the ~e 1~1 e 1~t of our National Union? Dare any man, profw:;s1ng to believe Ill Chnstmn1ty, say that there can be any object so dear as to ju stify c1·uelty, robbery,liccntiou ~· ness and soul murder? The thought is blasphemy 1 B_ut no su~h alterna· tive is presented to us; and if it were, n~ne but p~acllcal atheists _would hesitate to exclaim-" Honesty before pohcy! Justice before expediency! Innocency before union!" These are some of the reasons which induced me, yesterday, to bear my testimony against a portion of the dedicatory ad~ress, a~d LO allirm that this Hall needed a new baptism in the names of" V1rtue, Liberty, and Indepen· de nee." In the course of my remarks, I also took occasion to renew the exp_res· sions of my abhorrence of that proud, implacable, and hypocritical associatiOn, the Colonization Society; and, perceiving by placards in the streets, th.<~t a new champion of that Society is to make his appeara~tce n~xt_we_ek, 111 the person of a foreign adventurer, I alluded to the fact 111 plau1, _md1gnant terms. 1 spoke of him as an Englishman, not tauntingly, but. to Ius sha_m_e i for I cannot reproach any man on account of his complex1on or ~r1gm. My heart long since conceived and my lips gave utterance to the sentiment, "my country is the world--my countrymen are all mankind." The gos· pel levels all geographical barriers--all national distinctions. llut I felt that both duty ami propriety demanded the announcement of the fact, as a strong 8 l'I~F.C il OF WIJ,LIA!U LLOYD GARRISON. 121 aggravation of his co ndtict, that this conspirator against the peace! happine_ss, and equality of my colored cou ntrymen, by seeking to effect the!r expulsiOn from the soi l on which they were born, is a fore i g1~er. ~n h1s rep!~, he said that I was not taunted when I visited England, w1th bemg an Amencan, or of foreign extraction. True! And why? B eca u ~c I_ was hailed as the uncompromising foe of those twin-monsters, Colomzat1on _and Slav~ry! But if I had gone to that country to assist a haughty and mal1gna1~t anslO· c racy in banishing a certain portion of inhabitants to another contment, on account of their condition or physical conformation, what taunt, what rebuke should I not have deserved from the lips of good men throughout the world? lie passed a glowing panegyric upon the spirit of liberty now prevalent in Great Britain-spoke of that government as the freest of the free-and quoted exultingly the memorable boast of Cowper- "Slaves c:mnol br·cathc in England-if their lungs H.ceci\'C our uit·, that moment they arc free! The touch our country ami thcit• shncklcs fall!" Now I ask, what is the sentence which Great Britain has passed upon the Colonization Society, which this pseudo.philanthropis t, stands forth to de· fend? It is one of utter condemnation! What is the language of ~uch men as Lord Su nicld, a1HI Zachary Macaulay, and Fowell Duxton, and James Cropper, and William Allen, and Daniel O'Connell, and la s t. but first of all, WJLLJ ,\M \VJLUt-:ItFORCE '!-1 lear it !-11 \.Ye feel bound to afhrm, that our deliberate judgment and co nviction are, that the professions made by the Colonization Society, ol' promoting the abolition of slavery, are altogether delusive. • • * To the destr uc tiort of slavery throughout the world, we are compelled to say , that we believe the Colonization So~iety to be an ob~truc· tion. • _. • \Vhilc we believe its pretexts to be delustve, we are convmced that its reul e n'ects arc of the most dangerous nature. h takes its root from a cruel prejudice and alienation in the whites of America against the colored people, slave or free. • • • That Society is, in our estimation, not deserv· ing of the countenance of the B1·itish public." . The gentleman pathetically described himself as 11 an cxtle" from the land of light and liberty. So is the notable Elliot Cresson, who went to England on a fraudulent mi ssion in behalf of the Colonization Society, and returned home covered with shame and disgrace! Both, it seems, have been coloniz· ed,-·' with th ei r own consent," certainly. "Par nobilefralrum." Bnt this new champion of American prejudice is" an exile," forsooth 1 \Vhy ex· iled ? Surely, not 011 account of the color of his skin.? lt is reported in the newspapers, that the Emperor of Austria, since he has heard of ~hen~·· mcrous riots and lynch ings in this land, has seriously thought of sendmg lus criminals to us us a sort of Botany Bay i but I have not heard that England contemplates any such thing. 1 know nothing, therefore, l.lerogatory to the character of this individual-but is it not a suspicious circumstance that he is living in exile? Externally, he may be beautiful as a white~ sepulchre; but internally, he avows that he is full of colonization corrupuon and un· cleanness. It is said of a certain class of persons- "T1·uc 1mt•·iots thcy-fot• be it understood, They left their country for thci•· countt·y'a good!" I can hardly believe that this person is one of the~:~e patriots; but, avowing himself to be the friend and admirer of the Colonization Society-i.e., iron· hearted-it is e vident that he has beert drawn from a land of liberty to a land 16 |