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Show 'f(f•(t" ~ ___ _ , r, 80 affections and happiness of home at their very root, by tainting female purity. Woman, brought up in degradation, placed under another's power and at another's disposal, and never taught to look forward to the happiness of an inviolate, honorable marriage, can hardly possess the feelings and virtues of her sex. A blight falls on her in her early years. Those who have daughters can comprehend her lot. In truth, licentiousness among bond and free is the natural issue of all-polluting slavery. Domestic happiness perishes under its touch, both among bond and free. How wonderful is it, that in civilized countries men can be so steeled by habit as to invade without remorse the peace, purity, and sacred relations of domestic life, as to put asunder those whom God has joined together, as to b1·eak up households by processes more painful than death ! And this is done for pecuniary profit! What! Can men, having human feeling, grow rich by the desolation of families? \Ve hear of some of the Southern States enriching themselves by breeding slaves for sale. Of all the licensed occupations of society this is the most detestable. What! Grow men, like cattle ! Rear human families, like herds of swine, and then scatter them to the four winds for gain ! Among the imprecations uttered by man on man, is there one more fearful, more ominous, than the sighing of the mother bereft of her child 81 by unfeeling cupidity l If blood cry to God, surely that sigh will be heard in heaven. Let it not be said that members of families are often separated in all conditions of life. Yes, but separated under the influence of love. The husband leaves wife and children, that he may provide for their support, and carries them with him in his heart and hopes. The sailor, in his lonely nightwatch, looks homeward, and well known voices come to him amidst the roar of the waves. The parent sends away his children, but sends them to prosper, and to press them again to his heart with a joy enhanced by separation. Are such the separations which slavery makes l And can he, who has scattered other families, ask God to bless his own l 4. I proceed to another important view of the evils of slavery. Slavery produces ami gives license to Cruelty. By this it is not meant that cruelty is the universal, habitual, unfailing result. Thanks to God, Christianity has not entered the world in vain. 'Vhere it has not cast down, it has mitigated bad institutions. Slavery in this country differs widely from that of ancient times, and from that which the Spaniards imposed on the aboriginals of South America. There is here an increasing disposition to multiply the comforts of the slaves, and in this let us rejoice. At the same time, we must remember, that, under the light of 6 |
