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Show 38 alienable right, and clings to it more than to life. In such a country, he can only escape the consciousness of wrong, by flattering himself, that he is the benefactor of the slave. But kindness, when thus made an opiate to consCience, ~ s more a crime than a virtue. -As a conclusion to this head, I am willing and happy to acknowledge, that the kindness .of the South to the slave is to be ascribed, in part, to the religious and moral improvements of the times. We live under brighter lights than former generations ; and these influences penetrate into all the relations of life. But the lights, which induce the master to usc his power more mercifully, do not finish their mission by this teaching. They command him to renounce his power altogether. They convict him of usurpation. The principles, which persuade him to be a lenient owner, if carried out, forbid him to be an owner at all. That state of civilization, which dictates mercy towards the slave, makes slavery a greater crime. Oppression is to be measured, not by its weight, but by the light under which it is practised. To rob men of liberty in an age, which recognises human rights, and God's equal love to all his human creatures, is a very different thing from enslaving men in ages of darkness and despotism. A slight cruelty now is a more heinous crime, than an atrocity in barbarous times. Must we not feel, then, that slavery among us, however mild, has a guilt in the sight of God unknown before ? Its very kindnesses, extorted from it by the clear lights of religion and freedom, become testimonies to its guilt. This may seem severe. But God knows, that my desire is, not to give pain, but to set forth what seems to me great moral truth, for the benefit of my fellow-creatures. I have thus attempted to show, that there is nothing in the mitigating circumatnnces of slavery to diminish the reprobation with which it is regarded by the civilized world, and 39 nothing to justify the charge brought against its opposers of unwarrantable interference. Having finished this part of my task, I shall now pass to those portions of Mr. Clay's speech, in which he meets the arguments against slavery by attempting to show, that emancipation is impossible. The arguments on which he rests arc chiefly these, the amount of property which would. be sacrificed by emancipation, next, the ama]CJamation of the races and lastly the civil wars, ending in extermination of on~ or the othe; race, which would follow the measure. I shall consider these in their order. Mr. Clay maintains, that " the total value of the slave property in the United States is twelve hundred millions of dollars," and considers this ''immense amount" as putting the freedom of the slave out of the question. Who can be expected to make such a sacrifice ? The accuracy of this valuation of the slaves I have nothing to do with. I admit it without dispute. But the impression made on my mind by the vastness of the sum, is directly the reverse of the effect on Mr. Clay. Regarding slavery as throughout a wrong, I see, in the immenseness of the value of the slaves, the enormous amount of the robbery committed on them. I see "twelve hundred millions of dollars " seized extorted by unrighteous force. I know not on the face of the earth a system of such enormous spoliation. I know nowhere injustice on such a giant scale. And yet, the vast amount of this wrong is, in the view of many, a reason for its continuance ! If I strip my neighbour of a few dollars, I ought to restore them ; but if I have spoiled him of his All, and grown rich on the spoils, I must not be expected to make restitution! Justice, when it will cost much, loses its binding power ! What makes the present case. more startling is, that this vast amount of property cons1sts not of the goods of injured men, but of the men themselves. Here are human nerves, living men, worth at |
