OCR Text |
Show 8 ery by the process of draining it off to another country; a pro~ess about as reasonable as that of draining the Atlantic. Colonization may do good in Africa. It does 0~1ly harm among ourselves. H has confirmed the prejudiCe, to which slavery owes much of its strength, that the colored man cannot live and prosper as a freeman on these shores. It indeed sends out to the public now and then accounts of planters, who have fi·eed a greater or less number of slaves to be shipped to Africa. But these very operations strengthen slavery at home. Could the master send his plantation to Africa with his slaves, he would serve the cause of freedom. But the land remains ~ere? and remains to be tilled ; and by whom must the culttvahon go on ? by slaves. Of course new slaves must be bought. Of course the demand for slaves is increased ; and the price of a man rises ; and a new motive is given to the slave-breeding States to stock the market with human cattle. Thus the barbarous trade in men strikes deeper root. No. Colonization darkens the prospects of humanity at home, however it may brighten them abroad. It has done much to harden the slave? older in his purpose of holding fast his victim, and thus mcreases the necessity of more earnest remonstrance against slavery. Mr. Clay of course will not allow, that the resolution of making slavery perpetual at the South, is a reason for n~w assaults on the system. He insists, on the contrary, w1th th~ whole South, that we, in this region, have nothing to do w1th the matter ; that it is no concern of ours ; and that to labor here for the subversion of an institution in other States, is a criminal interference. Interference is the word which has been applied to all agitation of this subject at the North ; and the censure implied in the term has misled the unthinking into a vague notion, that to touch the subject here is doing wrong to the South. 9 But I maintain, that there is a moral interference with our fellow-creatures at home and abroad, not only to be asserted as a right, but binding as a duty. This is the first topic of discussion, and its importance will induce me to treat it at large. We are told, that the slaveholding States, in relation to this point, stand on the same ground with foreign countries, and are consequently to be treated with equal delicacy and reserve. This position I deny ; but grant it ; I maintain the right of acting on foreign countries by moral means for moral ends. Suppose that there were in contact with us a foreign state, which should ordain by law, that every child, born with black hair or a darklyshaded face, should be put to death ; and suppose that every sixth child should be slaughtered by this barbarous decree. Or take the case of a community at our door1 which should restore the old gladiatorial shows, and suppose that a large part of the population should perish in these execrable games. Who of us would feel himself bound to hold his peace, because these atrocities were committed beyond our boundaries ? \'Vho would say, that the tor· tures of the slain were no concern of ours, because not of our own parish or country ? Is humanity a local feeling ? Does sympathy stop at a frontier ? Does the heart shrink and harden as it approximates an imaginary line on the earth's surface ? Is moral indignation moved only by crimes perpetrated under our own eyes ? Has duty no work to do beyond our native land ? Does a man cease to be a brother by living in another state ? Is liberty nothing to us, if cloven down at a little distance ? Christianity teaches different lessons. Its spirit is unconfined love. One of its grandest truths is human brotherhood. Under its impulses, Christians send the preacher of the cross to distant countries, to war with deep-rooted insti· tutions. Th~ spirit1ql tics, which bind all men together, |