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Show 148 'l'HE CONTRAST. cotton or worsted, to the far-distant South-when th~se scenes passed one alit er ano ther , in review before me, tt was 1mposs1ble for me' to think llighly of the comforts of your enslaved negroes. The slave ma,rket at Charleston is held, as I understand, I· n t h e open streets , immediately under the walls of th.e ex- change. 'fhere, our fellow-men are bought and sold Without reserve. True indeed it is, that many high-minded, benevo-lent, holders, refuse to sell their slaves under any circumstances, ruld that mruw others avoid selling them, except m undiVIded Jamilics. But the Jaws of bankruptcy and executorship, are fraught with no such tender feelings; and in the breaking up and disposal of estates, husbands and wives, parents and children, are often sold- irrespectively of each other- each to the highest bidder. With such liabilities at hand, where can be the solid happiness of the slave of North America? I would, however, recur to my original ground-no man, who has sense and ]mowledge enough, to reflect upon himself, can enjoy hue comfort, while the law regards him as the property of ruwther. One of your most enlightened senators, furnished me with an instructive anecdote in reference to this subject. A pro-slavery Methodist minister, in our friend's presence, was, one day, ,1uestioning a well-educated negro, much respected by his master, and amply supplied with the conveniences of life. "You have your wife and family about you," said the minister; "you have a. good house; you and yonr children are well clad; you sit down, day by day, to a well-provided table; you are even engaged as a preache( to your b(ethrcn-why then are you anxious to be free? what can you wish for more?" "Sir," replied the negro, " I wish to lay my hand on my heart, and say, My flesh is MY owN." V. Morals and religion. That there are in the slave states of North America, a great number of persons, both white and black, who arc both moral and religious, I cannot in the least degree doubt. I have witnessed some plain tokens of the fact, in a large number of decent m1d attentive congregations, consisting of both masters and slaves, who have kindly g'lVen 'l'HE CONTH.AS'l'. 149 me their company)! meetings for worship of my own appointment. Far be 1t from me to exclude either of these parties from the pale of salvation; or to forget the equal applicability of our common Christianity, to bond and free. Nevertheless, as slaveholders give way to the development of divine truth, in their own minds, they will not fail to hear a voice whispering within them-" Touch not the unclean thing-cease to do evil." That slavery is sinful, not only in its abuse, but in its own nature, seems to me to be evident from its practical results. Two of these, with which an American statesman cannot fail to be familiar, I n;tay now brielly mention- they arc in themselves amply sufficient to prove my case. The first, is the dreadful licentiousness which notoriously prevails in your slave states, not merely among the negroes themselves, but more especially betwe~n whites and blacks. Here indeed amalgamation speeds its course without reserve, and in a criminal form. An institution which constant! y leads to this result-under which fathers ar~,> sometimes known, to bequeath or sell their own children-must needs be, in itself, a desperate moral evil. 'fhe second result alluded to is compulsory ·ignorance. Evil in its root-incurably evil-opposed to the will of an intelligent aJ1d benevolent Creator-and deadly in its moral tendency-must be a system, wh1ch shuts out half or two thirds of the population of a state, from even sipping at the fountain of knowledge-which proc. lalms to a multitudinous rising: generation the stern decree, "You shall never be taught to read the Bible !" I have now drawn a contrast between freedom in the West Indies, and· slavery-in North America, on five distinct pointsthe quantity of labor, the expense of cultivation, the value-of real property, the comforts of the negro, and lastly, morals and religion. I have endeavored to avoid exaggeration, in the statement of e1ther side ; but who shall deny that the scale· preponderates with inunense weight and power, on the side of freedom 1 Wh~ c~n doubt that the Americru1 statcsmaJ1 is bound by every princtple of philosophy as well as philanthropy, of policy as well 13~ ' |