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Show 16 man in the United States, unless he purge himself of it by solemn petition and remonstrance aO'ainst the evil. What ! have the free States nothing to do ,;ith slavery ! This moment they are giving it active support. · And here it is interesting and instructive to observe, how soon and naturally, retribution follows crime. We ~ph?ld slavery in the District of Columbia ; and this is begmmng to trench on our own freedom. It is making of no effect the right of petition, a right founded not on convention and charters, but on nature, and granted even by despots to their subjects. The pretext, on which the petitions for the Abolition of Slavery in Columbia have been denied the common attention by Congress, is not even specious. The right of Congress to perform the act for which the petitioners pray is undoubted. It may be said to have been demonstrated.* 'Vhy, then, are the memorials of a free people on this subject treated with a scorn, to which no others are subjected ? It is pretended, that the petitioners are aiming at an object which the constitution places be· yond the power of Congress, that they are seeking, through this action in the Distr.ct, to abolish slavery in the States. To this, two replies at once occur. The first is, that among the petitioners, who hope by acting on the District to reach slavery everywhere, there is not one who has not also another object, which is the well-being of the District, or the abolition of slavery in it for its own sake. Allowing one of their ends to be unwarrantable, they distinctly propose another end, which the constitution sanctions. A second reply is, that it is not true of all who have petitioned for the abolition of slavery in the District, that they have aimed, in this way, at the abolition of it in the States. I have signed these petitions, I know not how often, and, in so doing, was in no degree moved by this • See a pamphlet on the Abolition of Slo.very in the District of Co~· umbia, by Wythe. This ia one of the ablest pamphlets from the Amen· can press. It is ascribed to Theodore Weld. 17 consideration. I was governed by other motives. I wished the District to be purified fi·om a great evil. I wished the nation to be freed from the responsibility of ordaining and upholding slavery. I wished also by some public act to wash my own hands of this guilt. I felt myself bound to declare, that, if this nation uphold slavery, I am clear of it. And I bid it the duty of every man in the free States, who regards this institution as I do, to bear the same testimony against it, and, by solemn remonstrance to Congress, to purge his conscience of the nation's crime. As for myself, I could not petition against slavery in the District as a means of abolishing it in the States; for, as I have again and again declared, I can see but little connexion between these measures. Be this as it may, by sanctioning an acknowledged wrong at the seat of government, we have provoked a blow at our own privileges. In the original draught of the constitution, the right of petition was not referred to, for no one dreamed of its ever being questioned. Massachusetts, however, not satisfied with its foundation in nature and reason, chose to place it under the protection of the constitution. What this right is, we must judge from usage, and from its own nature and end. Thus interpreted, has it not been infringed by the power of slavery ? * I have now considered one important relation of the free States to slavery, that which grows out of the District of Columbia. I now proceed to another. The constitution requires the free States to send back to bondage the fugitive slave. Does this show that we have no concern with the domestic institutions of the South ? that the guilt of them, if such there be, is wholly theirs, and in no degree ours? This clause, makes us direct partakers of the guilt; and, of consequence, we have a vital interest in the matter of slavery. I know no provision of the constitution at which my moral feelings revolt, but this. Has not the • See note A. |