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Show 44 LIBERTY AND SLAVER~ Thus •ays Dr. 'N ayland : "I have wished to make it clear that slavery, or the holding of men in bondage, and 'obliging them to labor for our benefit, without their contract or consent,' is always and everywhere, or, as you well eJ..-prcss it, semper et ubique, a moral wrong, a violation of the obligations under which we are created to our fellow-men, and a transgression of the law of our Creator." Dr. Fuller likewise: "The simple question is, Whether it is necessarily, and amid all cif·cumatances, a crime to lwld men in a condition whe1·e they labor for another without their consent or contract? and in settling this matter all impertinences must be retrenched." In one word, Dr. Wayland insists that slavery is condemned by the law of God, by the moral law of the universe. We purpose to examine the arguments which he has advanced in favor of this position. We select his arguments for examination, because, as a writer on moral and political science, he stands so high in the northern portion of the Union. His work on these subjects has indeed long since passed the fiftieth thousand; a degree of success which, in bio owu estimation, authorizes him to issue l1is letters on slavery over the signature of "TnE ARGUMENTS OF ABOLITIONISTS. 45 AUTIIOR OF THE MoRAL SciENCE." But the very fact that his popularity is so great, and that he is the author of the Moral Science, is a reason why his arguments on a question of such magnitude should be subjected to a severe analysis and searching scrutiny, in order that, under the sanction of so imposing a name, no error may he propagated and no mischief done. IIence we shall hold Dr. \Vayland amenable to all the laws of logic. Especially shall we r,cquire him to adhere to the point he has undertaken to discuss, aud to retrench all irrelevancies. If, after having subjected his arguments to such a process, it shall be found that every position which is assumed on the subject is directly contradicted by himself, we shall not make haste to introduce anarchy into the Southern States, in order to make it answer to the anarchy in his views of civil and political freedom. But whether this be the case or not, it is not for us to detern1ine ; we shall simply proceed to examine, and permit the impartial reader to decide for himself. § I. The first fallacy of the abolitionist. The abolitionists do not hold their passions in subjection to reason. This is not merely |