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Show S4. Pope and his Cardinals to abolish su11erstition ; and of about as much ' 'alue as the vote which enrolled the Emperor A lexunder among the members of the Peace Society of 1\Iassachusetts. There is yet another day-dream of the learned Doctor, which would amuse us by its extreme child islm ess, if the honest simplicity in "hi cit it is made, did not redeem it from ridi cule. " \Vcrc the colored population [of the slave St:1tes] to be us~embled io Sundny schools, and were the whites to become their teachers, a new and iJitCre~Sting relation wou!d he formed between the races, and an influence be exerted which would do much to ensure the gift of freedom." There is certainly no gai nsaying, this proposition. The orerseer might teach them their catechism. The fi elcl·dri ver, somewhat accustomed to the task of instruct ion, might give them lessons in the alphabet; and the masters, when they were further advanced, might impress upon their minds Dr. Channing's homilies on the theory of property, and prore that all claim to it in a human being is altogether false and gro undless. 'Vere thi s to be done ! Oh time most reasonably to be expected , und er the j oint operation of "preaching," "government," and "legislatures." I came very near having a present to-day, said a boy to his mother. How so, my dear? 'Vhy, I asked a man to give me his dog, and he said no ; if he had only said yes, I should have brought him home. But th ere are solemn considerations connected with this subject. The present inability of the slave population to receire freedom is admitted in the book before us ; and the imposs ibility that the life of the slave should be long enough for him to acquire the necessary knowledge, is a proposition quite as demo'nstrable. That a few negroes may be made free without essential evi l, is no exception to this truth. The question to be met and settled is, what would be the result of an entire change in the whole relations of society ; and anx· S5 iously as I could wish it were otherwise, deeply and sincerely as I deplore the awfu l ami tremendous evil with whi ch the country is visited, strongly, as a freeman and a Christ ian, I would implore that the li berty and the light of th e one and the oth er might be sa fely shed upon the heart of eve ry bondsman in the Union, I do yet as solemnly and sin cerely believe that abolition, and even the prospect of it, would bring deso lation upon the whi te man and death to the slave. vVith all these modes and applionces to boot, it hard ly seems that our author contemplates a su bstantial freedom to the slaves . He puts them like a boy on his coasting-sled, but seems to dread the velocity of their motion, and to try vain ly to stop them in theit· way. It is rather a tran sfet· of masters than a freedom from all ownership, that is proposed. It is not, after all, that the slave is not to be considered as property, but that he is not to be the property of the presen t cla imants. Thus it is said : " It may he nsl•ed whether, in calling the slave-h olding States to nbo! ish property in the slave, I intend that he should be imrncdiatcly set free from all his present re,;traints. By no means. i\othing is further i·rotn my thoughts. The slave cannot rightfully and should not be owned by the individual. But, like every other c itizen, he belong~ to the community; he is su bject to the community, and the commun ity has a right nnd is bom1d to conti nue nil such restraints as it,;1 own safety, as the wcll -beiug nf the slm e demnnd. ]t would be cruelty, not kindnC3<~, to the Iauer, to gi \·e him a freedom which he is unprepared to undcr3tand or enjoy." l confess I do not understand this nice distinction. I am sure the slave would not comprehend it 'Vhethe r he is und er one man ot· all men, he is n slave still. How he can ceHse to be property and yet belong to anrl be the proper-ty of the State, I do not perceire. Bet1recn Sla~·ery and freedom there is no middle ground. To change masters merely is a mockery, which the most degraded and ignorant would feel to be an in sul t as c ruel as bondage. If the negro is not a citizen, he is a slave still, call him by what name you please. If he is a citizen and deLarred the rights of a citizen, the title is a deception, and the deception is a fraud . |