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A VIEW 
 
 AMERICAN SLAVERY 
 
 UMitntion. 
 
 »ABTOE or TH« PIRST PREK PRESBTTEinA.N CHURCU, M«W YORK 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 JOHN 8. TAYLOR, BRICK CHURCH CHAPEL, 
 
 OPPOSITE THE CITY HALL. 
 
 1836. 
 
.■Bi. r 
 
 ENTERED ACCORDING TO THE ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 
 1836, BY 
 
 JOHN S. TAYLOR, 
 
 IN THE clerk's office OF THE DISTRICT COURT OF TH» 
 CNtTED STATES, FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The following view of the American 
 Slavery Question is the substance of two 
 discourses prepared by the author in Oc- 
 tober, 1835, with particular reference to 
 the condition of his own church. When 
 called to the pastoral care of this church, 
 he found its members divided in their 
 views, and disunited in their feehngs, on 
 this much agitated subject. It appeared 
 to him that it might be presented to their 
 minds in such a manner as to gain the 
 assent of all on every important point. 
 With this view these discourses were pre- 
 pared and delivered. The result was a 
 spirit of harmony and good feeling in the 
 church. They are now, with some addi- 
 tions, presented to the public eye. That 
 they will receive the entire approbation of 
 
IV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 all Christians, he does not expect. They 
 are his own views on this momentous 
 question, honestly and frankly expressed. 
 He has occasionally censured those whom 
 he loves and esteems : he has done it 
 openly, because he believes that this is 
 demanded by the interests of truth. The 
 only favor he asks of his readers is that 
 they would suspend their judgment until 
 they have perused the entire volume 
 through, and then treat his arguments 
 with fairness and Christian courtesy. 
 
 It has occurred to the author that one 
 expression found in the following work — 
 "men are God's property," &c. — is liable 
 to be misunderstood. The author does 
 not mean to assert that God does, or can, 
 consistently with truth and justice, treat 
 men as things^ but simply that He only 
 has a right to exercise unlimited control 
 over them as their Creator and Proprietor. 
 Their rights as moral agents are invio- 
 lable in his eyes. The Author. 
 
 New York, January^ 1836. 
 
THE 
 
 AMERICAN SLAVERY aUESTION. 
 
 SLAVERY DEFINED. 
 
 That we may profitably discuss the 
 question of American slavery, we must 
 first have a clear idea of the condition of 
 slavery stripped of every accompanying 
 circumstance. The laws of Louisiana 
 and South Carolina shall furnish us with 
 definitions. 
 
 " A slave is one who is in the power 
 of a master to whom he belongs. The 
 master may sell him, dispose of his person, 
 his industry, his labor ; he can do nothing, 
 possess nothing, nor acquire any thing but 
 which must belong to his master." — Lou- 
 isiana Code, Art. 3. 
 
 " Slaves shall be deemed, taken, reputed, 
 and adjudged to be chattels personal in 
 1 
 
6 SLAVERY DEFINES. 
 
 the hands of their masters and possessory, 
 to all intents and purposes whatsoever." 
 ^-Laws of South Carolina — Brevard's 
 Digest, 229. 
 
 It follows, by natural consequence, 
 that the master claims as his lawful pro- 
 perty the oiisprino: of his female slaves, 
 whoever may be their father, upon the 
 same ground that the farmer does the 
 increase of his flocks and herds, viz. that 
 they are Jiis chattels personal. Accord- 
 ingly the laws of slave-holding states 
 declare that '• all the issue and offspring 
 of slaves, born or to be born, shall be and 
 remain for ever hereafter absolute slaves, 
 and shall follow the condition of the 
 mother." 
 
 Again : since the body of the slave 
 derives all its value from the mind which 
 animates it, the power of the master to 
 use the body of his slave as a personal 
 chattel for his own advantage, necessarily 
 includes the power to use his mind also for 
 
SLAVERY DEFINED. 7 
 
 the same purpose. The slave has no more 
 rio^ht, in the view of the slave-laws, to use 
 his intellectual, than he has to use his cor- 
 poreal powers, in the pursuit of his own 
 individual happiness. If the acquisition 
 of knowledge diminishes his value as a 
 personal chattel, his owner must place 
 beyond his reach all the means of know- 
 ledge. Accordingly, in most of the slave- 
 holding states, it is made a high crime 
 and misdemeanor to teach a slave to read 
 or write, or to give him any book or 
 pamphlet, not even excepting the word of 
 God! 
 Slavery is the condition of slaves. 
 The system of slavery, or the slave 
 system is that system of laws which re- 
 gards one portion of the community as 
 slaves, and which authorizes another por- 
 tion of tlie community to hold them as 
 such. 
 
 ^Uave-holding is holding men as slaves 
 under tbis system, and a slave-holder is 
 
8 MORAL CHARACTER OP 
 
 one who holds his fellow-men as personal 
 chattels. 
 
 In the present inquiry I shall use the 
 terms slave-holding, holding men in slave- 
 ry, holding men as personal chattels, 
 holding men as property, and holdiiig 
 property in men, as convertible. Let it 
 be remembered that when I speak of 
 slaves, I mean human beings held as 
 PERSONAL CHATTELS, agreeably to the 
 definition above given ; and when I speak 
 (^i slave-holders I mean those who hold 
 men as slaves, and not something else. 
 
 MORAL CHARACTER OF THE SLAVE 
 SYSTEM. 
 
 THE SYSTEM OF SLAVERY IS DIRECTLY 
 OPPOSED TO THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW 
 OF LOVE WHICH GOD HAS GIVEN MEN 
 IN HIS BIBLE FOR THE REGULATION 
 OF THEIR CONDUCT TOWARDS EACH 
 OTHER. 
 
 One form in which this law is expressed 
 is the following: " Thou shalt love thy 
 
THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 9 
 
 neighbor as thysdfP In direct opposi- 
 tion to this, the slave system authorizes 
 the master to love himself supremely, and 
 to buy, sell, and use his neiglibors and 
 their offspring, soul and body, as chattels 
 personal, for his own private advantage. 
 He may indeed treat liis slaves in some 
 respects benevolently, but he will do so 
 not in accordance with the spirit of the 
 system, but in spile of it. 
 
 Another form in v.'hich this great law 
 of love is expressed is this : '• Whatso- 
 ever ye would that 7?icn should do unto 
 yon, do ye even so to the??i.'- In direct 
 opposition to this, the system of slavery 
 authorizes the master to do to his fellow- 
 men wiiat he would not, in any case, that 
 they should do to him. He may honestly 
 believe that were he a slave in certain 
 snpposable circumstances, (perhaps those 
 of his own slaves,) he should wish to have 
 his master retain over him the power of 
 a guardian ; but can he believe that he 
 1* 
 
10 MORAL CHAR'ACTER OF 
 
 should ever be willing to be converted 
 into an article of merchandise, and sub- 
 jected to the despotic power of the highest 
 bidder ? Impossible. 
 
 Another form is this : " Love worketh 
 no ill to its neighbor : therefore love is 
 the fulfilling of the law^ In direct oppo- 
 sition to this, the slave system authorizes 
 the master to work the most grievous ills 
 to his colored neighbor. The following 
 catalogue of these ills is from the pen of 
 one whom all admit to be a competent 
 witness, Jeremiah Hubbard, of North Caro- 
 lina, a zealous advocate of colonization. 
 The same enumeration of wrongs is found 
 in Stroud's Sketch of the Laws of Slavery, 
 Chap. II., from which it appears to have 
 been copied. 
 
 " There can be no legal marriage among 
 slaves but what can be broken by the mas- 
 ter whenever it suits his passions or his 
 avarice. Slaves cannot redeem them- 
 selves, nor obtain a change of masters, 
 
THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 11 
 
 however cruelly they may be treated ; nor 
 be parties before a judicial tribunal in any 
 species of action against their masters, 
 how atrocious soever the injuries they 
 may have received from them. The 
 masters may determine the kind and 
 degree of labor to which the slave shall 
 be subjected, and supply him with such 
 food and clothing only, both as to quantity 
 and quality, as he may think proper, or find 
 convenient. The master may at his own 
 discretion inflict grievous scourging or 
 chastisement upon his slave. Slaves have 
 no legal rights of property in things real 
 or personal ; whatsoever they acquire 
 belongs, in point of law, to their master. 
 Slaves, being personal chattels, are at all 
 times liable to be sold absolutely, or mort- 
 gaged, or leased at the will of the master ; 
 they may be also sold by process of law 
 for the satisfaction of debts of the living 
 or deceased master, at the suit of creditors. 
 And all the power of the master may be 
 
12 MORAL CHARACTER Of 
 
 exercised not by himself only in person, 
 but by any one whom he may depute as 
 his agent." 
 
 Lest I should be accused of making 
 garbled quotations, I cheerfully add the 
 remainder of his description. 
 
 '• There may be mitigations to some of 
 these traits of slavery by modern enact- 
 ments of some of the slave-states ; this is 
 about its general picture as it is legalized 
 in this country; it is, however, but justice 
 to add that thjse great legal powers of the 
 masters are abundantly mitigated in the 
 practice of latter times ; there is not near 
 •he personal abuse of slaves now, gene- 
 rally, that there was thirty, forty, or fifty 
 years ago, and they are generally much 
 better fed and clothed. A cruel master is 
 now unpopular in great slave-holding 
 counties, but, with all these mitiijations 
 slavery is still an enormous evil-a'course 
 of monstrous injustice." 
 
 The accuracy of these statements, so 
 
THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 13 
 
 far as the region in which this writer 
 resides is concerned, I am not disposed to 
 question. The amount of them is that 
 the ^^ great legal poivers of the masters 
 are abundantly mitigated in the prac- 
 tice of modern timesJ^ — In other words, 
 the masters J in modern times ^ do not by 
 any means work all the ills to their 
 neighbors which this unrighteous system, 
 authorizes. It may be said with truth 
 that supreme selfishness, instead of love, 
 is the fulfilling of its fundamental princi- 
 ple. 
 
 The slave system being thus directly 
 opposed to the great law of benevolence 
 
 is SINFUL. 
 
 THE SYSTEM OF SLAVERY IS DIRECTLY 
 OPPOSED TO THE FAMILY RELATION 
 AS ESTABLISHED BY GOD. 
 
 By this institution husband and wife are 
 indissolubly joined together until death; 
 
14 Hff»41. CHARACTER Of 
 
 not only that they may solace each other 
 amid the toils of lifej but that each indivi- 
 dual of the human family may, from the 
 commeucenieDt of his existence, enjoy the 
 permaneut watch, care, discipline, and 
 government of one man and one woman. 
 It is DO exaggeration to assert that this 
 diTine ordinance involves the rirtue and 
 happiness of the globe. Accorii ngl y. God 
 has guarded it against violation in all its 
 parts by the seTerest sanctions. - Have 
 je not read." asks oor Savionr, •- that he 
 who made them at the beginning made 
 them male and female, and said. For this 
 caose diall a man leave &tlier and noother, 
 and shall deave to his wife : and they 
 twain shall be one fesh 7 Wherefore they 
 are no more twain, bat one flesh. What 
 ikerefare €hd hath joined togetheTf let 
 mtt fltex pMt asmmdo'^ In defiance of 
 this law oi Jehorah, the slaTe-li.ws an- 
 ih3iizs the master to pot asmMkr for eTer 
 hnrfmid and wile at his own pleasure; 
 
THE SLATE STfTLM. 15 
 
 for they are •• deemed, taken, reputed, and 
 adjudged to be his chattels persocal to 
 all inienis and purposes whatsoever." 
 *• There cau be no \e^\ marriage among 
 slaves but what can be broken by the 
 master whenever it suits his passions or 
 his avarice." Can auy thin^^ he dearer 
 to a man than his wift'. or, to a wife than 
 her husband ? Yet the slave-laws say to 
 the mstSter. - You may bwfuUy tear tbem 
 from each other's arms whenever it suits 
 your convenience." 
 
 Nor is the relation of parent and child 
 any more regarded by these laws. As 
 soon as the children have arrived at an 
 age suitable for labor, they may be sepa- 
 rated from their mother, and sold at any 
 moment. Can any treasures be more pre- 
 cious to a mother than her offspring ? 
 Yet of these treasures her master may 
 legally plunder her at pleasure. 
 
 I am happy to testify, from my own ob- 
 servation, that many wi^^jii*'^ le^^ect the 
 
16 MORAL CHARACTER OF 
 
 parental and filial relations of their slaves; 
 but this they do, not in accordance with 
 the great principle of slavery, but in oppo- 
 sition to it. 
 
 The slave system, being thus directly 
 opposed to the family relation, as esta- 
 blished by God, is sinful. 
 
 THE SYSTEM OF SLAVERY IS EVIL IN ALL 
 ITS TENDENCIES. 
 
 We must carefully distinguish between 
 the evils which grow out of the ahnse of a 
 thing, and the evils which are its appro- 
 priate results. The gospel, when faith- 
 fully preached, tends to bring men to 
 repentance : if resisted, the result is in- 
 creased obduracy : this is chargeable, how- 
 ever, not on the gospel^ but on the abuse 
 of the gospel ; since it is not the preach- 
 ing of the truth that hardens men's hearts, 
 but the resistance of this truth. Gambling, 
 on the contrary, directly leads to idleness 
 
THE SLAVE SYSTEM. IT 
 
 and dishonesty. When it results in these 
 vices, it is justly chargeable with them, for 
 they are its appropriate consequences. My 
 design is to show that the slave system 
 naturally tends to produce, and does actu- 
 ally produce, the most enormous evils of 
 every kind. 
 
 L One of its obvious tendencies is to 
 multij)ly instances of individual cruelty. 
 
 The connection between despotic power 
 and cruelty is so well understood in this 
 country, that it would be superfluous to 
 attempt to prove it. Now the slave-holder 
 is the most absolute despot on the face of 
 the globe. " The master may determine 
 the kind and degree of labor to which the 
 slave shall be subjected, and supply him 
 with such food and raiment only, both as 
 to quantity and quality, as he may think 
 proper, or find convenient. The master 
 may, at his discretion, inflict grievous 
 scourging, or chastisement, upon his slaves; 
 nor can they obtain any legal redress, 
 2 
 
18 
 
 MORAL CHARACTER OF 
 
 how atrocious soever the injuries they 
 may hav-e received from him." Every 
 man, in the exercise of his common sense, 
 might detennine beforehand, from the 
 uniform experience of the world in all 
 ages, that such irresponsible power would 
 be abused, and we know from observation 
 that it is abused. It is not my intention to 
 bring a sweeping charge of cruelty against 
 the mass of slave-holders, (as has been 
 sometimes unjustly done by Northern men,) 
 nor to prove that the 7?iajorily o[ them are 
 cruel. My object is to show that the 
 whole tendency of the system is to cruelty. 
 I shall content myself with asserting, what 
 I know to be true, that multiplied instances 
 of the most revolting cruelty do occur as 
 the proper results of the system. When 
 known, they generally excite the indigna- 
 tion of the community ; but, alas ! if the 
 master possesses an ordinajy degree of 
 prudence, they need not be knov/n, for no 
 slave can bear testimony againsthis pro- 
 prietor. 
 
THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 
 
 19 
 
 The extreme criiell'/ of the domestic 
 slave trade, all candid men admit. Yet 
 this is but a legitimate branch of the slave 
 cyslc/n. It is sustained by three classes of 
 men, all influenced by the love of money ; 
 the slace-groirers^ the slave-traders, and 
 the slave-jnirdLasers, principally in the 
 southwest. The slave-grower raises his 
 slaves expressly for the market, and as soon 
 as they have arrived at a suitable age, he 
 tears them from their parents, and con- 
 siirns them over into the hands of the 
 slave-trader, for money. The slave-trader 
 hurries them to Louisiana, or the adjoining 
 states, and there delivers tb.em into the 
 hands of the slave-pu releaser, lor money. 
 The slave-purchaser places them on his 
 phintation, and wears out their lives with 
 labor, beneath the southern sun, for money. 
 jXow, if the slave system is lawful, this is 
 certainly a fair and lionorable business. 
 If two neighbors, on adjoining plantations, 
 have a rio^ht to traffic in human tiesh, 
 
*20 MORiL CHARACTER OF 
 
 why have not two planters in different 
 counties, in different states, in different 
 sections of the United States ? And why- 
 have they not a right, Hke other men, to 
 employ their agents? Why should the^e 
 agents be loaded with public odium, while 
 their employers escape censure? The 
 domestic slave-trade, then, with all its 
 abominations, is a legitimate appendage of 
 the system. 
 
 Thus much respecting the tendency of 
 the slave system, to multiply instances of 
 individual cruelty. To many this ten- 
 dency will appear too obvious to need illus- 
 tration. I have introduced it because it 
 has an important bearing on the argument 
 respecting the moral character of the sys- 
 tem itself. 
 
 2. x4nother obvions tendency of the sys- 
 tem of slavery is to 7miltiply unjust a?id 
 cruel laws. 
 
 This tendency may be illustrated in 
 various ways. 
 
THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 21 
 
 The slave-laws begin by depriving the 
 corored man of a right which this nation 
 has, in the most solemn and public man- 
 ner, pronounced to be unalienable — li- 
 berty. Now, it is a well known princi- 
 ple of morals, that one sin unrepented of 
 leads to another of the same hind. The 
 merchant who has embarked in one dis- 
 honest scheme for making money, will be 
 ■Maturally drawn into others. The man 
 who has uttered one falsehood, Vv'ill add 
 twenty more for the sake of concealment. 
 So hero. The slave-laws hav.'ng begun 
 by robbiijg the slave of his liberty, it is not 
 surjrising that we find them in the next 
 place depriving him of the right of trial 
 by jury, and then forbidding liini to read 
 God's Holy Word. The tendency of this, as 
 of all despotic systems, is from bad to worse. 
 
 Again : Slaves being in the most ab- 
 solute sense the property of their mas- 
 ters, it is necessary that the latter should 
 have unlimited control over them ; other- 
 2^ 
 
22 MORAL CHARACTER OP 
 
 wise, they would cease to be slaves. It 
 would be an insufferable annoyance that 
 these "personal chattels" should speak, and 
 complain of the hard treatment to which 
 they might happen to be subjected. Hence, 
 the slave-laws provide that no slave shall 
 be a party before a judicial tribunal, in any 
 species of action against his master, how 
 atrocious soever the injuries he may have 
 received from him ; and, furthermore, that 
 no slave shall be permitted to bear testi- 
 mony against any white man. Resistance 
 to their owners, on the part of these ''per- 
 sonal chattels," must by no means be tole- 
 rated. Hence, we need not wonder at the 
 following enactment in the slave-code of 
 Georgia : " If any slave shall presume to 
 strike any white person, upon trial or con- 
 viction, before the justice, or justices, ac- 
 cording to the directions of this act, he 
 shall, for the first offense, suffer such pun- 
 ishment as the said justice, or justices, 
 shall, in their discretion, think fit — not ex- 
 
THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 23 
 
 tending to life or limb ; and for the second 
 offense, suffer death." Man^r similar laws 
 miffht be collected from the codes of the 
 several slave-holding states, but the above 
 will suffice for an illustration. 
 
 Again : Slaves being unjustly deprived 
 of their most sacred rights, it is necessary 
 that they should be kept in a state of igno- 
 rance and degradation. When men are to 
 be governed as men, by equitable and 
 wholesome laws, the more intelligence 
 they possess the better. But when they 
 are to be despoiledof freedom, and bought, 
 sold, and used as " chattels personal to all 
 intents and purposes whatsoever," the more 
 profound the ignorance in which they are 
 immersed, the better. God has implanted 
 in the human soul an unconquerable love 
 of liberty. Men will never voluntarily 
 consent to be slaves, and they cannot be 
 held in slavery by physical power, unless 
 they are first reduced to such a deplora- 
 ble state of ignorance and consequent help- 
 lessness, that they shall neither understand 
 
24 MORAL CHARACTER OF 
 
 their rights, nor be able to defend them. 
 All this the slave-holding slates have lono- 
 iniderstood. Hence, as the number of 
 their slaves has multiplied, they have 
 multiplied the obstacles to their mental 
 improvement. They have deprived them 
 of the means of furnishing their minds 
 with knowledge, for the same reason that 
 they have prohibited them from bearing 
 fire-arms, viz. that they might make them 
 entirely subservient, as personal chattels, 
 to their own interests. 
 
 So early as 1740, South Carolina, while 
 yet a province of Great Britain, enacted 
 the following law : '• Whereas the having 
 of slaves taught to write, or suffering them 
 to be employed in writing, may be at'tended 
 with great inconveniences, Be it enacted, 
 that all and every person and persons 
 whatsoever who shall hereafter teach, or 
 cause any slave or slaves to be taught, to 
 write, or shall use or employ any slave as 
 a scribe in any manner of writing whatso- 
 
THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 25 
 
 ever hereafter taught to write, every such 
 person or persons shall, for every such 
 offense, forfeit the sum of one hundred 
 pounds current money." — 2 Brevard's Di- 
 gest, 243. 
 
 In 1771, Georgia passed a similar act 
 with a less penalty. 
 
 In the revised code of Virginia, 1819, 
 we find the following : " All meetings or 
 assemblages of slaves or free negroes or 
 mulattoes mixing and associating with 
 such slaves at any meeting-house or 
 houses, or at any other place," &c., " in the 
 night, or at any school or schools for 
 teaching them reading or writing, either 
 in the day or night, under whatever pre- 
 text, shall be deemed and considered 
 unlawful assemblies," (fcc. — 1. Rev. Code, 
 424-5. 
 
 In 1800, the State of South Carolina had 
 previously passed a similar law. 
 
 As the number of the ^slaves and the 
 consequent difficulty of governing them 
 
26 MORAL CHARACTER OF 
 
 has increased, the number and severity of 
 these enactments has proportionally in- 
 creased. By the existin.u: laws of the ma- 
 jority of the slave-holdin<^ states, to teach 
 a slave (and in many states a free ne^ro) 
 to read or write is forbidden under heavy 
 penalties. In North Carolina, for exanjple, 
 to teach a slav^e to read or write, or to sell 
 or give him any book or pamphlet, is an 
 offense punishable wilh thirty-nine lashes, 
 or imprisonment, if tlie offender is a freo 
 iieo^ro ; but if a white, then wilh a fine of 
 two hundred dollars. Similar laws exist 
 in the southern states generally. 
 
 Thus is the written v/ord of God sealed 
 up by law from the colored man for whom 
 Jesnsdied. The autliors of these laws do 
 in effect say to the Redeemer, '• Thy gospel 
 which thou hast given for the instruction 
 of ail nations we will not permit our slaves 
 to read ; for if they do, we cannot keep 
 them in bondage." With tiie correctness 
 of their reasoning I am not at present con- 
 
THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 27 
 
 cerned. That the perusal of the Holy 
 Scriptures would excite rebellion among 
 the slaves, no man in his sober senses can 
 for a moment believe. But that intelli- 
 goice which the ability to peruse them 
 implies would, in the estimation of the 
 slave-holding states, make it impossible 
 for them to keep their slaves any lousier 
 in subjection by physical power, the final 
 resort of all who despoil their fellow-men 
 of their just rights. 
 
 In such abominable laws the system of 
 slavery must inevitably end sooner or 
 later. The discussion of this question at 
 the North may hasten their development; 
 for the clearer the light which shines 
 through the communiiy on the sin of 
 holding men in slavery, the thicker and 
 closer must be the bandage of ignorance 
 which the legislatures draw over the eyes 
 of the slaves. 
 
 3. It is hardly necessary to add, that 
 another tendency of the slave system is 
 
28 MORAL CHARACTER OF 
 
 every way to degrade the entire colored 
 popidation of the United States. 
 
 Deprived of freedomj subjected without 
 hope of remedy to individual caprice, trans- 
 ferred from master to master at the plea- 
 sure of others, debarred by the strong arm 
 of oppression from all privileges of men- 
 tal improvement, and their domestic rela- 
 tions disregarded by the laws, — the mass of 
 the slave population in the Southern states 
 is, by the confession of all, sunk in pro- 
 found ignorance and degradation.* Nor 
 is the influence of this system on the free 
 black population hardly less pernicious. 
 It has been the uniform policy of the slave- 
 
 * A violent opponent of northern abolitionists, who is 
 evidently disposed to give the most favorable view possible 
 of the condition of the slaves, writing from Alabama, says; 
 '• In many respects slaves are as moral as the whites. They 
 are restrained by their owners from fighting, drinking, and 
 idling. With little motive to be continent, and none to 
 seek the honor of being virtuous, they, like the savages of 
 this latitude, are frequently, though not universally, with- 
 out chastity." The underlining is my own. 
 
THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 29 
 
 holding states to keep them in a feeble and 
 depressed condition, well knowing that in 
 proportion as their numbers, elevation of 
 character, and influence increase, they will 
 become sources of perpetual discontent to 
 the slaves. Hence all the impediments, so 
 numerous and formidable, thrown in the 
 way of those who would manumit their 
 slaves : hence, in several of the slave- 
 holding states, enactmenls making it penal 
 for a white man to teach a free negro to 
 read. 
 
 In the free states, too, the free negro is 
 doomed to feel the oppressive influence of 
 this unrighteous system. For he belongs 
 to a race enslaved, despised, and trampled 
 under foot for two centuries ; with whom 
 the community have always been accus- 
 tomed to associate the ideas of servitude, 
 inferiority, and degradation. 
 
 It is not wonderful that narrow minds, 
 accustomed only to contemplate present 
 results, without regard to the connection 
 3 
 
30 MORAL CHARACTER OF 
 
 of cause and effect, beholding their deplo- 
 rable condition, and perhaps baffled in 
 their attempts to elevate particular indivi- 
 duals in the face of all these formidable 
 obstacles, should hastily conclude that the 
 African race are incapable of lofty eleva- 
 tion of character and self-government. 
 
 4. I add that the tendency of the slave- 
 system is every way ivjurious to the slave- 
 holding part of the commvrdty. 
 
 One of its deplorable effects is to blunt 
 the moral sensibilities of the master. No 
 man at the present day, can maintain and 
 practise the system of slavery with a clear 
 conscience. Excuse himself as he may, 
 the conviction will still remain that he is 
 doing wrong. If he comes to the light, his 
 guilt stares him in the face ; and if he 
 avoids it, he knows that in so doing he 
 sins. In either case his conscience is de- 
 filed, and his moral feelinffs are blunted. 
 
 Another effect of the system is to dis- 
 courage industry, and consequently to 
 
THE SLAVE SYSTEM- 31 
 
 cncoitra^e idleness and vice among; the 
 vJiite yop)dation. This is so evident as 
 to need no illustration. 
 
 Another effect is to enconrage Uccniious- 
 ness. It is not my intention here to'brincr 
 a sweeping- charcre of hcentionsness against 
 all slave-holders, which would be indeed 
 slanderous in the highest sense of ihc 
 word. It is sufficient to remark, that the 
 female slave has no protection against the 
 white man. She may cry, but the laws 
 have carefully provided that her voice 
 shall not be heard. How far this unlimit- 
 ed power is abused I shall not stop to in- 
 quire. It is admitted by all candid men 
 that, licentiousness, both among the slaves 
 and the whites, is one of the deplorable 
 fruits of this system. 
 
 Another effect is to discourage educa- 
 tion, by separating the planters so widely 
 from each other, that they cannot conve- 
 niently maintain schools. The slave-hold- 
 ing states have always produced, in abuii- 
 
32 MORAL CHARACTER OF 
 
 dance, men of highly gifted and cultivated 
 minds ; but it is not true that the mass of 
 the community in these states, has ever 
 been well educated. 
 
 Another effect is to produce inequality 
 of property among the whites. 
 
 Another effect is to discourage enter- 
 prise. Slave-labor, though it may be in 
 individual instances more profitable, is, in 
 the aggregate, less profitable than that of 
 freemen. Thousands of intelligent men 
 in these states feel, and frankly acknow- 
 ledge, that slavery is, in this respect, a mill- 
 stone about their necks. 
 
 In all these ways, the tendency of the 
 system is injurious in its influence upon 
 the white population of the slave-holding 
 states. 
 
 5. Another tendency of the system of 
 slavery is to destroy that liberty of the 
 press, and that freedom of speech a7id of 
 discussion, uhich are the safeguards of 
 this and of every republic. 
 
THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 33 
 
 Eased on injustice and oppression, it 
 "hates the iioht, neither comes to the 
 light, lest its deeds should be reproved." 
 Its supporters manifest the most extreme 
 solicitude to keep from the ears of their 
 slaves the faintest whisper respecting their 
 own guilt, wellJvnowing that they cannot 
 justify themselves to these slaves. Hence, 
 every attempt in the slave-holding states 
 to expose, with manly plainness, the wick- 
 edness of the whole system of slavery is 
 perilous in the extreme. The ministers of 
 the gospel, and the public press, may not 
 plainly tell the masters that they are sin- 
 nincr in convertincr their fellow-men into 
 personal chattels, upon pain of being 
 dealt with as '• incendiaries ;" deplore the 
 existence of the system as " a great evil," 
 and ''unjustifiable in the abstract," and pro- 
 pose various plans for its removal — they 
 may in cautious terms, — but hold up, in 
 clear light, its heinous guilt, and urge the 
 masters to abolish it, as sinful, in the 
 3* 
 
34 MORAL CHARACTER OP 
 
 speediest and best manner possible, they 
 may not. Thus is freedom of speech and 
 6^ the press, on a pt int of vital nTi;:ortance, 
 virtually suppressed in the slave-holding 
 states. 
 
 Already has the United States' mail 
 been subjected, in violation of the con- 
 stitution, to the surveillance of the Post- 
 master General and his subordinates, and 
 now it is proposed to make such a sur- 
 veillance legal. Respectable men have 
 been informed by lawless associations of 
 individuals, what publications they may, 
 and what they may not, receive from the 
 North, upon peril of being " lynched." 
 Gov. Mc Duffie, in his last official mes- 
 sage, advises to punish interference with 
 the rights of the masters " by deaths with- 
 out benefit of clergy?^ Under color of 
 such a law, the citizen of South Carolina, 
 or stranger sojourning there, who shall 
 openly maintain that one man has no 
 right of property in his fellow-man, or 
 
THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 35 
 
 that " all men are created free and equal, 
 and endowed by their Creator with certain 
 unalienable rights, among which are life, 
 liberty, and the piirsuitof happiness," may 
 be adjudged guilty of interfering with the 
 rights of the master, and hung without 
 mercy. 
 
 But this is not all. Our Southern breth- 
 ren insist upon our putting a total stop to 
 the discussion of this question. If we will 
 not comply with this unreasonable demand, 
 they predict a dissolution of the Union. 
 They call upon our legislatures to pass 
 laws for the suppression of anti-slavery 
 meetings and publications. One of their 
 governors has formally demanded from 
 the governor of New York, the person 
 of one of the citizens of this state, whose 
 only offense is that he is a publisher of 
 anti-slavery documents. 
 
 No books, sent to the Southern market, 
 must allude to the sin of holdinof nien in 
 slavery ; no bookseller, who would enjoy 
 
36 MORAL CHARACTER OF 
 
 their patronage, must publish anti-slavery 
 works ; and no merchant, who would 
 grow rich by their custom^ must openly 
 avow himself an anti-slavery man. Thus 
 IS the etfort to suppress the discussion of 
 thisgreat question prosecuted with untirino^ 
 energy. I do not say by the entire South- 
 ern community, but by those leadirjo men 
 among them who are determined to up- 
 hold and perpetuate the s\'stem of slavery. • 
 
 It may be said, in their behalt", that they 
 are not opposed to the simple discussion 
 of the question, but to - the incendiary 
 attempts of Northern fanatics." I would 
 this apology for their violence were found- 
 ed in truth. But what are facts ? Can 
 any thing be more calm, dispassionate, and 
 free from tlie charge of incendiarism and 
 fanaticism, than President Wayland's ad- 
 mirable chapter on Personal Liberty ? Yet 
 this has stirred up the most angry feelings 
 m the bosoms of his Southern brethren in 
 Christ ; and now they are beginning to 
 
THt sLlT^ 1TST2X 37 
 
 warn ' '----. '.2 
 
 th-- - 
 
 that men have no right 10 bold pre ; : 
 in their feilow-meo, they will wit} 
 £rom him their potrange. The tr^ 
 that mode of dwciMBing the davery c :;es- 
 tioo will be most streaooudy oppose: 
 the sopporteis <if the dare sjpteoi, ^ 
 prodaces the most lapid and powerfai m- 
 floence upon the pablfic miiid. I d : 
 deoy diat some aDti-aiaTery men a: 
 North have been riolait^ abiisiwe, and un- 
 christiaD, in their langva^ and ' 
 BM their fimhS; however moch thev 
 be deplorcd^do not heat the fimndar 
 the violent excitement at the Sooth, 
 arises mainly firom thu aMvwl duarac: 
 Hob syaiem aiwniled It is tme of exerr 
 sfstem^ that, in proportion as it if 
 and opp iB MifC g its abettors wiU dx - . 
 bold and feoksB disconon of its eh 1 1 : 
 icr. The widkedncss of the ilme 1 
 
38 MORAL CHARACTER OF 
 
 slave system, then, may be measured by the 
 strength of the opposition made l)y its ad- 
 vocates to a free and full discussion of its 
 merits. 
 
 The tendency of tliis system to suppress 
 freedom of speech and of the press is most 
 alarminof. Let this fieedom, jinaianlicd 
 to every citizen of the United Stales, by 
 the constitution, be once destroyed on this 
 jwutt, and it will be an easy work to de- 
 stroy it on every otiier point. Our tongues 
 and our press will be ];laced under surveil- 
 lance, as on the continent of Europe; and 
 we shall become a nation of nominal free- 
 men, but real bondmen. 
 
 6. Finally: The tendency of the slave 
 system is iosce?ies of blocdshed,7nassacrc, 
 and cxtcrmuialion. 
 
 No good man at the North desires these 
 awful results. No good man will encou- 
 rage the slave to rebellion against his mas- 
 ter. But this will, in all human probabi- 
 lity, be the consequence of an attempt to 
 
THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 39 
 
 perpetuate the system. The immortal 
 mind was made for freedom, and it will 
 not willingly be deprived of the precious 
 boon of its Creator. By the strong arm of 
 power, men may be kept quiet in slavery 
 for a season ; but their bosoms will rankle 
 with deadly enmity against their oppress- 
 ors, which will sooner or later break forth 
 in desperate efforts at self-emancipation. 
 The scenes at South Hampton show that 
 ignorance is no safeguard against, but 
 rather an incentive to. such efforts. Had 
 these deluded wretches understood the 
 physical force of their masters, they never 
 would have dreamed of such amaiimder- 
 taking. How melancholy then is the pro- 
 sp3ct before us, unless this ruinous system 
 be l)rouo;httoa speedy and peaceful ter- 
 mination ! Plots, conspiracies, insurrec- 
 tions, massacres, and summary execution?, 
 may be expected to thicken, until one or 
 the otiier race is exterminated. Were there 
 no God in heaven, we might predict with 
 
10 MORAL CHAKACTXR OT 
 
 certainty the niial triumph of the masters. 
 But when we remember thai he has so- 
 lemnly pledged himself to aren^e the op- 
 pressed, and punish the oppressor, our 
 minds are left in solemn suspense. What- 
 erer may te the fate of the slaves, we know 
 that their masters, if they will persist in up- 
 holding this unrighteous system. shaL not 
 go unpanisfaed. The history of the world 
 ^jeaks to them in onambiguous terms of a 
 letribation to come, and Grod "s word coi;- 
 ^ims the testioiony of nnirersal experience. 
 
 The system of slarery. then, being eril 
 in adl its ii^ndencicg^, is ^ixrix. 
 
 Here soJer me to remark that we are to 
 judge of this system, as we do of ereqr 
 odier system, by Us appropriate tendem.- 
 de$. Wf are not toseiect isolaled 
 exam^ttes of extreme lenitf , or extrane 
 caraelty, and hold tfirai np to paUic view 
 assuapies of the spiem. It fieqaeDtfj 
 hafppns that unfledged Northexnezs, wiio 
 liavBs froBs a larrow^ and defective ednca- 
 
TMI SLATE 5T5TEM 41 
 
 tion imbibed riolent prejudices against 
 Southern character in general, are induced 
 to visit the siaTe-holding states. Here 
 thev fall perhaps into the bosom of a pious, 
 humane, and accomplished family, ^'and 
 many such may tie found in the South. ^ 
 where the slaves are treated with uniform 
 kindness, and carefully instructed in the 
 prmciples of the gospel. They see no 
 whips, chains, or manacles : they hear no 
 groans of oppression ; mutual offices of 
 kindness and good will alone meet their 
 eyes. Suddenly, their eaxly prejudices 
 give way, and. as is natural to the human 
 
 mind, they go to the ^ ": extreme. 
 
 T":r medium through T. 7 contem- 
 
 plate slavery divests it. to their visioD. 
 of all its horrors : and they write hom€ to 
 their n-iends at the North the most en- 
 chanting accounts of the system. 
 
 Another class of Northerners seem to 
 delight in dwellmg upon cases of exrreme 
 cruelty. One would think, to read iheir 
 4 
 
42 MORAL CHARACTER OF 
 
 narratives, and hear their public ha- 
 rangues, that every master is an inhuman 
 monster, and every foot-slep of the slave 
 red with blood. Some of them are nar- 
 row-minded and ignorant men, who sup- 
 pose the North to be the only abode of vir- 
 tue, and others are influenced by a natural 
 propensity to go to extremes on ev^ery sub- 
 ject. Now, the right way to determine the 
 character of the slave system, is to consi- 
 der its general tendencies. Tliese are 
 "only evil continually." In none of the 
 slave-holding states do we see them fully 
 developed. When tlie Genius of Slavery 
 shall have lacerated the body of every 
 colored man with stripes, and galled the 
 feet of every colored man with fetters ; 
 when it shall have despoiled him of his 
 last remaining privilege, shut out the last 
 lingering ray of heavenly light from his 
 immortal mind, and sealed up his eyes in 
 eternal night; when it shall have seared 
 the consciences of the masters, as with a 
 
THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 43 
 
 hot iron, and spread indolence, licentious- 
 ness. jgDorancc, and poverty, throngh the 
 community; wi:en it shall have deluged 
 the slave-holding states willi blood, and 
 ended in extermination; th?:^, and not 
 TILL THEN, will its malignant character 
 be fully disclosed. May God, in his infi- 
 nite mercy, prevent this awful disclosure, 
 by pouring out upon all concerned in sus- 
 taining this system the spirit of hearty 
 repentance ! 
 
 I have shown that the system of slavery 
 is directly opposed to the fundamental law 
 of love which God has given men, for the 
 ren^ulation of their conduct towards each 
 other, and to the family relation as esta- 
 blished by God himself; and that it is evil 
 in all its tendencies. For each and all of 
 these reasons it is sinful. 
 
 I lay claim to no originality of argu- 
 ment. I have said nothing but what such 
 men as Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, 
 William Wilberforce, John Jay, and a host 
 
44 MORAL CHARACTER OF 
 
 more of philanthropists, have long since 
 proved by unanswerable arguments. It 
 may be asked, " Why dwell so long on 
 the sinfulness of the slave ''system, when it 
 is so generally admitted ? " I answer, 
 
 1. Though the sinfulness of holding 
 property in men is generally admitted at 
 the North, in a general way, yet the rea- 
 sons why it is sinful need to be specifically 
 and distinctly stated, that the mouths of 
 gainsayers may be stopped. 
 
 2. At the present crisis, this is especially 
 necessary, since the violent opposition of 
 many to a class of men at the North, termed 
 Abolitionists, is leading them, if I mistake 
 not, to overlook the insufferable guilt of 
 that system which these men are opposing, 
 
 3. In no other way can a wholesome, 
 powerful, permanent public sentiment in 
 favor of the speedy removal of this guilty 
 system be maintained in this nation. Let 
 it not be said that the South will not 
 regard the opinions of the North on this 
 
THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 45 
 
 subject. We are at present so divided 
 and distracted by the violence of party 
 spirit, that our Southern brethren hardly 
 feel the power of our influence. Let the 
 sentiments of the non-slaveholding states 
 on this subject, be coolh^, temperately, 
 firmly, kindly, and unanimously expressed, 
 and they will produce a slow but sure 
 effect. United public sentiment, when 
 based upon eternal truth, is omnipotent. 
 So far as slavery exists under the autho- 
 rity of the state legislatures^ we have no 
 i^ight to use any other weapon — we will 
 ALLOW no other weapon to be used by our 
 citizens — we DESIRE no other weapon. 
 
 The preceding arguments against the 
 slave system are based rather upon the 
 general principles of the Bible than upon 
 specific texts. I am aware that its advo- 
 cates claim the authority of Scripture in its 
 behalf Because slavery existed and was 
 tolerated in the days of the Hebrew patri- 
 archs, they maintain that it may lawfully 
 
46 MORAL CHARACTER OF 
 
 exist at the present day. It is one of the 
 most odious features of the modern system 
 of slavery, that, instead of keeping pace 
 with the progress of the world in know- 
 ledge and improvement, it goes back into 
 the ages of ignorance that are past, adopts 
 their abuses, and then pleads them in its 
 own justification. What was the con- 
 dition of the bondmen and bondmaids 
 whom the Hebrews were allov\'ed to buy of 
 ^' the' heathen round about them," and of 
 ^' the strangers that sojourned among 
 them," and to " take as an inheritance for 
 their children after them," is a question 
 worthy of examination. That it cor- 
 responded entirely to the condition of our 
 Southern slaves is not certain. But, how- 
 ever it shall be decided, it will not affect 
 the scriptural argument against slavery. 
 At that age of the world practices existed 
 which we know, from the infallible testi- 
 mony of God, to have been in themselves 
 wrong ; but which God " winked at " for 
 
THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 47 
 
 a season, till he should have established 
 certain fundamental truths of primary im- 
 portance. Thus Moses allowed a man 
 whose wife found no favor in his eyes, 
 because he had found some uncleanness 
 [nakedness of a thing, i. e. blemish] in her, 
 to write her a bill of divorcement, and to 
 send her out of his house. This practice, 
 our Saviour expressly informs the Jews, 
 Moses suffered by reason of the hardness 
 of their hearts, and severely condemns it, 
 except in a specified case. So also po- 
 lygamy was tolerated in the ancient patri- 
 archs and kings, and laws were enacted 
 regulating the conduct of the man who 
 had two wives (Deut. xxi. 15-17.). Yet 
 to practise polygamy after the example of 
 the Hebrew patriarchs would be sinful. 
 
 The argument of Governor M'DufBe 
 therefore, if it proves any thing, proves 
 entirely too much for his purpose. ■• God 
 forbid," he piously exclaims, " that my 
 descendants, in the remotest generations, 
 
48 MORAL CHARACTER OF 
 
 should live in any other than a community 
 having the institution of domestic slavery 
 as it existed among the patriarchs of the 
 primitive church, and in all the free states 
 of antiquity." Surely this governor, who 
 is so anxious to conform to the example of 
 the ancient patriarchs, ought strenuously 
 to recommend to his legislature tlje imme- 
 diate passage of a law allowing the good 
 citizens of South Carolina to have at least 
 two wives apiece like Jacob, and to give 
 these wives a bill of divorcement, and 
 send them out of their houses, whenever 
 they cease to find favor in their eyes, ac- 
 cording to the practice of " the patriarchs 
 of the primitive church." 
 
 But farther: In the law of Moses we 
 find the following permission : ''Both thy 
 bondmen and thy bondmaids which thou 
 shalt have shall be of the heathen 
 
 THAT ARE ROUND ABOUT YOU ; of them 
 
 shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. 
 Moreover, of the children of the strak- 
 
THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 
 
 49 
 
 GERS THAT DO SOJOURN AMONG YOU, of 
 
 them shall ye buy, and of their families 
 that are with you, which they begat in 
 your land : and they shall be your posses- 
 sion. And ye shall take them as an in- 
 heritance for your children after you, to 
 inherit them for a possession : they shall 
 be your bondmen for ever " (Lev. xxv. 
 44-46.). Now, if every custom tolerated 
 by God among the Hebrews may be law- 
 fully imitated by the citizens of the United 
 States, then have our Southern brethren a 
 moral right to send out ships to the coast 
 of Africa as our fathers did, that they may 
 bring home cargoes of these " heathen " 
 purchased of the native chiefs, to be their 
 " bondmen for ever ; " and to buy up the 
 children of the Cherokees, and other 
 " strangers that do sojourn among " 
 them, as an inheritance for their children 
 after them. The laws of the United States 
 and of the nations of Europe, which de- 
 nounce the foreign slave-trade as piratical, 
 
50 
 
 MORAL CHARACTER OF 
 
 being at war with the practice of " the 
 patriarchs of the primitive cljurcli/' ou2;ht, 
 accordinsfto this mode of reasoning, forth- 
 with to be repealed. 
 
 With regard to the example of our 
 Saviour and his Apostles, it is sufficient to 
 remark, that they no where countenanced 
 the system of slavery, but simply pre- 
 scribed rules for reo^ulatinof the conduct of 
 masters and servants. This no more 
 proves that they regarded the custom with 
 approbation, than the fact that God pre- 
 scribed rules for regulating the conduct of 
 the man who had two wives proves that 
 he approved of polygamy. The grand 
 truth to be established at that day plainly 
 was, the divine origin of the Christiait 
 religion. The practice of slavery was 
 tolerated for a season, until, this religion 
 having been firmly established, the proper 
 time should come for bringing its benevo- 
 lent principles to bear upon the system, 
 and exterminating it from Christendom. 
 
THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 51 
 
 That this time has arrived, is evident 
 from the fact that the great question of 
 HUMAN RIGHTS is now, by the providence 
 of Godj brought so distinctly before the 
 nations of the earth, that it is agitating 
 them throughout the globe. In this mo- 
 mentous discussion the United States 
 have stood forth as the avowed cham- 
 pions of liberty. We revolted from Great 
 Britain upon the abstract question 
 OF HUMAN rights. We took up our arms 
 and maintained an arduous and sangui- 
 nary struggle for seven years against her 
 fleets and armies, not because we were 
 actually ground to the earth by oppression, 
 but because we considered '- taxation with- 
 out representation'^ an intolerable griev- 
 ance inevitably tending to oppression. 
 The God of armies favored us, and we 
 achieved our independence. From that 
 day to this our halls of legislation have 
 ceaselessly echoed with the sound of 
 " Liberty and Equality ; " and yet we 
 
52 MORAL CHARACTER OF 
 
 are holding more than two miUions of men 
 in a state of the most absolute servitude, 
 and a portion of them too under the autho- 
 rity of the United States. Under the very- 
 walls of our capitol, where the sacred 
 charter of our nation, which proclaims 
 
 that " ALL MEN ARE CREATED FREE AND 
 
 EauAL," is deposited, men are bought and 
 sold like cattle, disturbing our eulogies 
 of " Liberty and Equality" by the 
 clanking of their chains. The nations of 
 Europe laugh at our inconsistency, and 
 well they may. Wave after wave of 
 burninof sarcasm and ridicule is rollinsf in 
 upon us across the wide Atlantic, nor 
 have we any barrier to protect ourselves 
 against its scalding influence, for it is the 
 sarcasm and ridicule of truth. " What is 
 the difference," they ask, f' in a moral point 
 of view, between buying a gang of slaves 
 in the District of Columbia from their 
 owners, and buying a cargo of slaves on 
 the coast of Africa from their owners ? " It 
 
THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 53 
 
 will not avail ns to get angry at this taunt- 
 ing question. This will only increase their 
 laughter. We must repent. 
 
 When we consider that men have plead- 
 ed the authority of the Holy Scriptures as 
 a warrant to burn men alive for heresy ; 
 that the monarchs of Europe profess to 
 derive their despotic powers immediately 
 from God, and call all resistance to their 
 authority rebellion against heaven ; and 
 that Satan himself quoted Scripture for the 
 purpose of seducing our Saviour into sin ; 
 we need not wonder to find the advocates 
 of slavery claiming the sanction of a su- 
 premely benevolent God in favor of a 
 supremely selfish system, which autho- 
 rizes men to be bought and sold like cattle, 
 which contemptuously disregards the fa- 
 mily relation which God himself has esta- 
 blished, and which seals up from the poor 
 slave the word of eternal life which is 
 able to make him wise unto salvation. 
 When God shall " call evil good and good 
 5 
 
54 THE SLAVE SYSTEM 
 
 evil;" when he shall •• put darkness for 
 liffht and li^ht for darkness.'' '-'bilterfor 
 sweet and sweet for bitter : " then, and not 
 till then, will he be fbiiud the patron of the 
 American slave system. 
 
 THE SYSTEM OF SLAVERY NOT TO BE 
 I\ ANY WAY COUNTENANCED UR 
 ABETl'ED. 
 
 The system of slavery having been 
 proved by unanswerable arguments to be 
 SINFUL, it follows that it is not to be in 
 any way countenanced or abetted. Of the 
 innumerable ways in which this may be 
 done. I shall mention but one, namely, 
 practising- the system. 
 
 I wish it to be distinctly remembered 
 that the question now under consideration 
 is not hov7 the penitent slave-holder shall 
 dispose of his slaves ; whether he shall 
 send them to Laberia, or to the Northern 
 
NOT TO BE COUXTENAXCED. 55 
 
 States, or retain them on his plantation : 
 nor is the question wiiether, in this latter 
 case, he shall immediately manumit them 
 ill Ico-alform, or shall remain for a limited 
 period of tim? their le^'-al master, while he 
 expressly renounces all right in them as 
 property, and treats them accordingly ; in 
 short, does all that lies in his power to place 
 them in the condition of freemen. On these 
 points 1 intend to say a few words hereaf- 
 ter. The simple proposition which I am 
 at present maintaining is that it is unlaw- 
 ful to practise the systp/m of slavery. By 
 practising the system of slavery, I mean 
 USING the civil right ichich the slave-laws 
 confer TO buy, sell, and hold men as 
 
 CHATTELS PERSONAL. 
 
 Thus to countenance and abet this un- 
 righteous system by the most eiiicient of all 
 means, EXAMPLE, is in no case what- 
 ever justifiable. 
 
 Does the slave-holder plead necessity? 
 
 He is under no necessity of using his 
 
56 THE SLAVE SYSTEM 
 
 fellow-men as personal chattels. The 
 legislatures can never compel him to do 
 this. They may, and do, interpose the 
 most formidable obstacles in the way of 
 their emancipation. In many of the 
 Southern States, for example, every slave 
 manumitted in legal form, is required to 
 leave the state within a certain number 
 of days, under penalty of being seized by 
 the civil authorities and sold into bondage. 
 In such a case the master has certainly 
 full power to say to his slaves, "I have 
 no right in you or in any human beings 
 as property : I will not sell you : I will 
 not interfere with your domestic relations : 
 I will secure to you, in the best manner 
 possible, a just compensation for your 
 services : I will faithfully instruct you 
 and your children in the gospel of Jesus > 
 Christ ; in short, 1 will, so far as lies in my 
 power, treat you as freemen : if I do not 
 immediately manumit you in legal form, 
 it is because the laws, which I cannot 
 
NOT TO BE COUNTENANCED. 57 
 
 oontrol, have made such a manumission 
 null and void, and 1 should ihus throw 
 you out of the pale of my protection with- 
 out benefit iujj you : I do in this respect 
 to you, as 1 would wish to have you, in 
 Jike circumstances, do to me: but I will 
 be your proprietor only in name: you 
 may at all times come to me for counsel 
 and direction as to a father.*' Let him do 
 this in the spirit of love ; and let him also, 
 in a firm, temperate, dignified, and consti- 
 /tutional manner, exert his influence in the 
 manner which he shall conscientiously 
 think wisest and best to induce his fellow- 
 citizens totally to abolish the whole sys- 
 tem, and he has in the spirit of tlie divine 
 command, '-broken the yoke, and let the 
 oppressed go free." He is not considered 
 by the communily as countenancing or 
 upholding the system. Thus much is 
 clearly the immediate duty of every mas- 
 ter. Ulterior duties will be determined by 
 <:ircumstances. It is of vast importance 
 5* 
 
58 THE SLAVE SYSTEM 
 
 that he should not only cease himself to 
 hold property in his slaves, but that he 
 should place them and their posterity 
 beyond the power of his heirs, making 
 them freemen not only de facto but also 
 de jure ; and he ought to omit no effort 
 for the accompUshment of this desirable 
 object. 
 
 Does the slave-holder plead his person- 
 al kindness to his slaves 7 
 
 No personal kindness towards the small 
 number under his immediate control can 
 justify him in sustainino:, by his example, 
 a system fraught with injustice, oppression, 
 and cruelty towards the entire colored 
 population of the United States. He may 
 comfortably clothe and feed his slaves ; 
 he may not tax them with labor beyond 
 their strength : he may banish from his 
 plantation the brutal practice of flogging ; 
 he may provide for their religious instruc- 
 tion ; — but so long as he continues to act, 
 m the face of the community, upon the 
 
NOT TO BE COUNTENANCED. 59 
 
 fundamental principle of slaven-. which 
 is that men may be converted into pro- 
 perty and used as such, he is upholdiug 
 the system with all its tremendous evils, 
 however kindly he may treat his own 
 slaves. He is guilty, not for his kindness 
 to them, but for countenancing- and sup- 
 porting an unkind system which is crush- 
 ins: the colored man to the earth. He 
 may make a temperate use of the absolute 
 and irresponsible power of the masters, 
 but others will certainly abuse it. It 
 ought not to be possessed by any man 
 living, and it is his duty, by his example, 
 to say so. All attempts to sanctify the 
 system of slavery by private benevolence 
 towards the slaves are preposterous. As 
 well might one attempt to sanctify the 
 business of gambling, or selling ardent 
 spirits. 
 
 Here suffer me to remark that the 
 efforts of benevolent men to remove from 
 our nation this fearful evil, ought to be 
 
60 THE SLAVE SYSTEM 
 
 directed not principally against the abuses 
 of the slave system, hut against the slave 
 system itself ^ tiie source of these ahuses. 
 Tlie cause of emancipaiion is to 1)0 pro- 
 moted upon the same principle as the 
 cause of (emp( ranee, or the cause of reli- 
 gion generally. AVero the advocates of 
 temperance to aim their hlows at drunken- 
 ness instead of moderate dr'inkin^^ the 
 fountain of drunkenness, what would tliey 
 accomplish 7 Cr, were the njinisters of 
 the gospel to h? incessantly preaching 
 against murJer, iheft, piracy, and the like, 
 instead of laboring to reform men's unholy 
 hearts whence all these bitter Gtreams 
 proceed, whom would they convert ? Pnt 
 a stop to moderate drinkinsTj and drunk- 
 enness will cease of course. Sanctify 
 men's hearts, and their external actions 
 will, be right. So convince the slave- 
 holder that the principle of holding pro- 
 perty in n:a ] is essentially injurious to the 
 best interests of society, and therefore sin- 
 
KOT TO EE COUNTENANCED. 61 
 
 fill ; and induce him. iipon conscientious 
 grounds, to abandon it, and his reforma- 
 tion (so far as this one sin is concerned) 
 is thorough. Whereas, if we level our 
 ariiilery mainly at the revolting abuses of 
 slavery, he can easily evade its power by 
 personal kindness to his slaves. 
 
 To send pamphlets, then, from the 
 North to the South, embellished with 
 cuts representino: the planter, with his 
 broad-brimmed hat, in the act of flogging 
 his bleediDs: and manacled slaves, and 
 abounding with anecdotes of extreme 
 cruelty, — is to commit a manifold error. 
 
 It IS an error in judorment : for it infalli- 
 bly secures their rejection without a read- 
 ing. 
 
 It is an error in ethics : for it is not in 
 accordance with the principles of the gos- 
 pel that the truth i' ' ' usly 
 dressed in the most _ :ossi- 
 ble, vhere there is already an almost insur- 
 mountable mass of prejudice to be encoun- 
 tered. 
 
62 THE SLAVE SYSTEM 
 
 It is an error in logic ; for such appeals 
 do not seriously disturb the conscience of 
 the linmane planter, which it is most 
 important to reacli. 
 
 Paniplilets in this stylo may have an- 
 swered very well in England where the 
 object was to induce a non-slavehold- 
 ing population to legislate on the sub- 
 ject for a distant province ; but they 
 are eiitirely out of place lierc. The 
 masters to whom these publications are 
 sent, hold in their own hands, by the 
 admission of all, the exclusive power of 
 abolishing slavery: they arc morbidly 
 jealous of foreign influence; and the 
 truth respecting the slave system, how- 
 ever kindly told, will be extremely unpa- 
 latable to the majority of them. In such 
 circumstances it is the dictate of wisdom, 
 of religion, and of sober reason to present 
 it, not in the most revolting, but in the 
 ni'St conciliating manner possible. 
 
 Does the slave-holder plead that his 
 slaves are not Jit for liberty ? 
 
NOT TO BE COUNTENANCED. 63 
 
 What does ho understand by conferring 
 liberty upon his slave? Turning him 
 loose at once upon society, and bidding 
 him take care of himself? No man 
 can believe this to bo his duty. Let him 
 renounce all right of property in his 
 slaves, and treat them accordingl^^ Tlien 
 lie cair employ them on his plantation as 
 before ; he can exercise a parental super- 
 vision over them; and in the mean time 
 he can qualify them for self-government 
 cs fast as j)ossible. i( in the prosecution 
 of this benevolent work the legislatures 
 (that is, the majority of the slave-holders 
 acting thiou^ih their authorized agents) 
 throw obstructions in his way, he is 
 guiltless. 
 
 Does the slave-holder plead that his 
 slaves are better off than the free colored 
 people 7 
 
 This plea is, in the first place, false, tlie 
 slave-holders themselves being judges. 
 Tliey have provided by law for the manu- 
 
64 THE SLAVE SYSTEM 
 
 mission of slaves who have performed 
 important services to the state : a strange 
 reward of merit truly, according to this 
 doctrine ! 
 
 This plea would not, in the second placCj 
 avail the slave-holder though its truth 
 were admitted. For it is the system of 
 slavery which has reduced the free Macks 
 to their present degraded condition ; and 
 he is not at liberty to plead the evil conse- 
 quences of an unjust course of conduct 
 as an excuse for its continuance. 
 
 Does the slave-holder plead that he 
 disapproves of the system of slavery in 
 the abstract 7 
 
 What is the system of slavery in the 
 abstract ? It is the system existing only 
 in theory ; for, wherever it actually exists, 
 it is (to borrow the language of gramma- 
 rians) not an abstract but a concrete 
 thing. It has not a theoretical and gene- 
 ral, but a real and particular existence. 
 Now who is not opposed to all sin in the 
 abstract ? 
 
NOT TO BE COUNTENANCED. 65 
 
 But perhaps the slave-holder means 
 that, although he acknowledges the gene- 
 ral system to be wrong, yet he is com- 
 pelled, m his particular circumstances^ 
 to practise it. This plea of necessity has 
 been considered above. 
 
 Does the slave-holder plead that the 
 Bible sanctions the holding of men in 
 slavery 7 
 
 This plea has already been answered. 
 
 Does the slave-holder plead that great 
 and good men have by their example 
 sanctioned this system without either 
 remorse of conscience or censure of men 7 
 
 True. So also in olden times, great 
 and good men, by tlieir example, sanc- 
 tioned polygamy, without either remorse 
 of conscience or censure of men ; and, in 
 modern times, great and good men have, 
 by their example, sanctioned the manufac- 
 ture, sale, and use of ardent spirits, with- 
 out either remorse of conscience or cen- 
 sure of men. " The times of this igno- 
 6 
 
66 THE SLATE SYSTEM 
 
 ranee God winked at, but now command- 
 eth all men every where to repent;" for on 
 all these subjects "the darkness is past, 
 and the true light now shineth." 
 
 Does the slave-holder plead that he is 
 not the author of the system^ hut that it 
 has been entailed upon himself and his 
 fellow-citizens hy involuntary inherit- 
 ance 7 
 
 This is certainly a palliating circum- 
 stance. The sons of New England who 
 migrate to the South, and basely aposta- 
 tize from the principles of their forefathers 
 by becoming slave-holders, are far more 
 guilty in the sight of God than the native 
 citizens of the Southern States. Still the 
 fact that they did not invent the system, 
 but received it from their fathers, will not 
 justify them in perpetuating it ; otherwise 
 there is an end to all reformations and 
 improvements in society. 
 
 Does the slave-holder plead that his 
 slaves are his lawful property ? 
 
NOT TO BE COUNTENANCED. 67 
 
 Let US examine the validity of his title. 
 The authority under which he holds pro- 
 perty in his fellow-men, is simply the 
 slave-lmos of the state in lohich he and 
 they reside. These laws have been 
 demonstrated to be contrary to God's law. 
 They are therefore null and void in 
 the court of heaven, and all titles derived 
 from them are equally null and void. 
 God alone is the proprietor of men. They 
 are his property and his only. The 
 mortal who presumes to appropriate this 
 property of Jehovah to himself, and to 
 make merchandise of it for his own con- 
 venience, is embezzHng the treasures of 
 heaven, and will assuredly find his title to 
 them set aside at the righteous tribunal of 
 the universe. It is vain for him to plead 
 that he found this property in the hands 
 of a fellow-mortal, and paid him an equi- 
 valent for it. He knows that it belongs 
 to God, and he ought either never to 
 have received it, or immediately to return 
 it to the right owner. 
 
68 THE SLAVE SYSTEM 
 
 Slave-holders cannot justly demand an 
 equivalent for restoring to their slaves 
 their unalienable rights. . This is nothing 
 more than their duty, and no man can 
 ask pay for doing his duty. The sacri- 
 fice may be in particular instances great. 
 It will require the exercise of an heroic 
 and generous spirit of self-denial and 
 benevolence, comporting well with the 
 generous and chivalrous character of the 
 South. Our Saviour has expressly pro- 
 vided for such exigencies. " If thy right 
 eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it 
 from thee ; for it is profitable for thee that 
 one of thy members should perish, and 
 not that thy whole body should be cast 
 into hell." The general doctrine here 
 inculcated is that if men would enter 
 heaven, they must inake any and every 
 sacrifice of their piHvatc interests which 
 duty requires. 
 
 The renunciation on the part of slave- 
 holders of all property in their slaves, 
 
NOT TO BE COUNTENANCED. 69 
 
 does not, however, necessarily imply the 
 total loss of all their services. Provided 
 the nrianumitted slaves be still employed 
 on the plantations as free laborers under 
 such restraints as the legislatures may 
 deem necessary for the welfare of the 
 community, the arrangement would pro- 
 bably be attended with temporary loss to 
 individuals, but certainly with ultimate 
 gain to the people at large. The slaves 
 held as property in the United States are 
 valued, I believe, at upwards of eiglit 
 hundred millions of dollars. We are 
 gravely asked, '•' Do you expect the South- 
 ern States to sacrifice eight hundred mil- 
 lions of dollars ? " By no means. Not 
 unless the slaves are all to be colonized. 
 Then the sacrifice must somewhere be 
 made, either by the slave-holders them- 
 selves, or by their non-slaveholding breth- 
 ren, or by both. But, if they are retained 
 in the country, it is not necessary. Uni- 
 versal experience has demonstrated that 
 6* 
 
70 THE SLAVE SYSTEM 
 
 free labor is more profitable to the commu- 
 nity than slave labor. Were the South- 
 ern States to substitute the former for the 
 latter, they would eventually be g^ainers 
 by the change. 
 
 According to the slave system the mas- 
 ter furnishes his laborer with food, 
 clothing, lodgings, and implements of 
 every kind : in sickness, infancy, and old 
 age he must be at charges for their main- 
 tenance without receiving any equivalent. 
 The slaves, moreover, knowing that the 
 avails of their industry belong wholly to 
 their master, have, as a general fact, no 
 motive to exert themselves except the fear 
 of punishment Hence, by the concession 
 of all, the amount of labor performed by a 
 given number of slaves, taken indiscrimi- 
 nately, is much less than the amount per- 
 formed by the same number of free labor- 
 ers. The latter, it is true, receive wages ; 
 but. on the other hand, they furnish them- 
 selves, and, besides, take care of their own 
 
NOT TO BE COUNTENANCED. 7l 
 
 sick and infirm. Free labor will always 
 be found, for these reasons, more profita- 
 ble in the long run than that of slaves. 
 
 To bring the former system into com- 
 plete operation where the latter has long 
 prevailed, must necessarily be a work of 
 time and labor. Ignorant and unaccus- 
 tomed from childhood to provide for them- 
 selves, the slave? -cannot be in a moment 
 qualified for this work. The bare act of 
 manumitting them will not thus qualify 
 them. Yet this is no reason why the 
 Southern States should not immediately 
 begin in good earnest to effect the change, 
 (provided the mauiLmitted slaves are to 
 remain at home, a question to be here- 
 after considered,) by abolishing all right 
 of property in man, and suppressing 
 the traffic in human flesh in every 
 shape — by repealing all laws whose 
 object is to impede the mental improve- 
 ment of the slaves, and enacting laws of 
 
72 THE SLAVE SYSTEM 
 
 an opposite character — by conferring upon 
 them the right of trial by jury — and by 
 securing to them, in some method, a just 
 compensation for their services. It might, 
 and doubtless would, be necessary that 
 the masters should act for a period of time 
 as guardians and conservators of their 
 former slaves, a power for which the 
 legislatures could easily provide. If it 
 be replied that such a power might be 
 abused to cruelty and injustice as well as 
 the power of a slave-holder, I answer, To 
 some extents it certainly could. No 
 method of manumission can be devised 
 that is free from all objections. The best 
 ought to be selected by our Southern 
 brethren, to whom belongs both the legal 
 right and the responsibility of break- 
 ing the yoke, and letting the oppressed 
 go free. 
 
 What has now been said respecting the 
 duty of private slave-holders, applies 
 with full force to the legislatures of the 
 
NOT TO BE COUNTENANCED. 73 
 
 Southern States, for they are nothing else 
 but the slave-holders acting through their 
 accredited agents. 
 
 We are now able. I trust, satisfactorily 
 to answer the question so often asked : 
 " What is the immediate duty of slave- 
 holders ? " It is the duty of all who have 
 in practice countenanced, abetted, and 
 upheld the system of slavery, whether as 
 private individuals or as legislatures, im- 
 mediately to repent, and then to " bring 
 forth fruits meet for repentance," as fast as 
 is in the nature of things possible. All 
 these fruits cannot be instantly exhi- 
 bited. They must ])e developed, some 
 immediately, and some gradually, 
 according to circumstances. All are under 
 immediate obligation to give up all property 
 in their fellow-men, that is, to renounce 
 for ever the right of buying, selling, hold- 
 ing, and usin^^ them as personal chattels. 
 All are under immediate obligation to re- 
 store to their slaves the privileges of free- 
 
74 THE SLAVE SYSTEM 
 
 merij so far as is in present circumstances 
 practicable. All are under immediate ob- 
 ligation to exert their influence for the en- 
 tire abolition of the system of slavery in 
 the manner which they shall, after pra^-er- 
 ful and honest inquiry, judge wisest and 
 best for all parties concerned. That all 
 are under immediate obligation to manu- 
 mit their slaves in legal form, cannot, in 
 my opinion, be maintained. Of what value 
 can free papers be to a slave, where the 
 laws refuse to recognise him as free? 
 where they assume the right, notwith- 
 standing these papers, of seizing, and sell- 
 ing him into remediless bondage? True, 
 these iniquitous laws are perpetuated by 
 the majority of the slave-holders. True, 
 the master who cordially loves, and stre- 
 nuously supports them, may plead them in 
 self-justification, while he professes his 
 vehement abhorrence of slavery in the ab- 
 stract. Yet it is also true that the con- 
 scientious master, who abhors the whole 
 
NOT TO BE COUNTENANCED. 75 
 
 system, finds them a serious obstruction to 
 his benevolent designs. Now, if we in- 
 discriminately denounce all that sustain 
 towards any of their fellow-men the legal 
 relation of masters, whatever may be the 
 obstacles thrown by others in the way of 
 the legal dissolution of this relation, 
 the slave-holder in heart will easily detect 
 the fallacy of our arguments, and by occu- 
 pying himself in their refutation^ will di- 
 vert his mind from his own personal guilt ; 
 while the honest and conscientious planter, 
 who sincerely desires to learn and do his 
 duty, finding himself unjustly accused, 
 will be in danger of being alienated, em- 
 bittered, and driven from us. 
 
 Whatever specific course is marked out 
 for the slave-holder, he can, if he chooses, 
 easily evade his duty. Let a spirit of 
 hearty repentance and sincere benevo- 
 lence animate the Southern States, and let 
 them, under the influence of this spirit, 
 address themselves in earnest to the work 
 
76 ULTERIOR DUTIES OF 
 
 of removing from their midst this enor- 
 mous evil, and we may safely intrust to 
 their judgment the details of emancipa- 
 tion. With them resides the sole power, 
 and upon them rests the obligation, to 
 legislate on this subject. 
 
 ULTERIOR DUTIES OF SLAVE-HOLDERS. 
 
 I have shown that the system of slavery 
 is SINFUL, and, therefore, not to be in any 
 way countenanced or abetted. How the 
 slave population is to be disposed of, is a 
 separate question, and one of momentous 
 interest to the United States. Slaves are 
 not puncheons of rum, or barrels of ale, 
 that can be emptied into the streets at any 
 moment, with no injury to any but their 
 owners. Neither is the system of slavery 
 a distillery or a brewery that can be pulled 
 down, or converted to some other purpose 
 at pleasure. The parallel, then, between 
 
SLAVE-HOLDERS. 77 
 
 the slave system and the traffic in xirdent 
 spirits ouglit not to Ije pressed too far. Al- 
 cohol is matter^ not iii'uid : it can claim no 
 rights nor privileges ; it is indeed a '• nui- 
 sance," which ought to be immediately- 
 abated. But slaves are immortal minds, 
 having interests temporal and eternal. 
 They have a right to live, and, unless ex- 
 terminated, will live, and increase, and 
 multiply, to the end of time. How, then, 
 shall they be disposed of? Shall they be 
 colonized in Africa, or elsewhere ; or shall 
 they be retained on their native soil as free 
 laborers under suitable restraints ? I he- 
 sitate not to affirm that the principle upon 
 v/liich these questions are to be answered 
 is EXPEDIENCY, Understanding by expedi- 
 ency not that which subserves men's pre- 
 judices and selfish interests, but that 
 which promotes the best welfare of the 
 community. Where God has expressly 
 legislated, we have but one course to pur 
 sue ; where he has only laid down general 
 7 
 
7S rLTERIOR DUTIES OF 
 
 principles, a careful consideration of pro- 
 bable results becomes our rule of duty. 
 Such is clearly the present case. The 
 broad and glorious principles of God's 
 Word decide that the whole system of 
 slavery is sinful, and ought to be abolished. 
 They decide, also, that it ought to be abo- 
 lished in such a way as shall be most con- 
 ducive to the welfare of all parties concern- 
 ed. What that way is, they do not decide. 
 It is left to the judgment of our Southern 
 brethren. Inasmuch as we have been 
 called upon to aid in one specific tvai/, it is 
 neither impertinence nor officious inter- 
 meddling in us, to attempt to decide these 
 questions for ourselves. Into the details of 
 emancipation, we do not wish to enter. 
 These we cheerfully leave where they 
 properly belong. If it can be clearly 
 MADE OUT that the emancipation of the 
 slaves at home upon any plan that would 
 secure the accomplishment of the work in 
 a definite and reasonably limited period of 
 
SLAVE-HOLDERS. 79 
 
 time would prove the inevitable destruc- 
 tion of both masters and slaves, or of ei- 
 ther party ; then they ouo;ht to be comfort- 
 ably provided for in Africa, or elsewhere, 
 at whatever expense ; and we ought to be 
 willing, as philanthropists, as Christians, 
 andascitizensof the United States, to bear 
 our share of the burden. But, unless this 
 position can be sustained by solid argu- 
 ments, we ought conscientiously to with- 
 hold our countenance and support from a 
 scheme which can never become practica- 
 ble except under the pressure of extreme 
 necessity, which involves a vast expendi- 
 ture of labor and treasure, and which ex- 
 poses more than two millions of colored 
 men to all the hardships and perils of emi- 
 gration across the wide Atlantic, from a 
 temperate to a tropical climate, and from 
 a civilized land to a land of hostile and 
 treacherous barbarians. We may, in this 
 latter case, patronise colonization for other 
 reasons, but not as the remedy for slavery. 
 
80 ULTERIOR DUTIES OF 
 
 Justice and candor require me to state 
 that many of the most strenuous advo- 
 cates of colonization (I may say all sober- 
 minded men, at least at the North) consi- 
 der the scheme of transporting the entire 
 mass of our colored population to Africa^ 
 as a wild and visionary project. They 
 advocate the scheme principally on the 
 ground of its beneficial influence upon 
 Africa itself, and also of its salutary reac- 
 tion upon the United States. 
 
 Neither ought we, in any case, to patron- 
 ise this scheme, for the purpose of reliev- 
 ing our Southern brethren from the pres- 
 sure of their surplus slave population, so 
 that they shall thus be helped to defer re- 
 pentance. Neither ought we, in niy opi- 
 nion, to advocate it for the purpose of ena- 
 bling conscientious slave-holders to get rid 
 of their slaves, unless we intend to carry 
 it throuo-h as an effectual remedv for the 
 evil. If the ultimate resort must be eman- 
 cipation of the slaves on their native soil. 
 
gLAVE-HOLDERS. 81 
 
 the sooner the South sees and feels this 
 truth, the belter. Let not the pious mas- 
 ter, by his example, assist his fellow-citi- 
 zens in keeping it out of sight. If he is 
 disposed to send to Liberia a selection of 
 the most virtuous and intelligent among 
 his slaves, for the avowed purpose of aid- 
 ing the colony, well and good. But let 
 him not encourage fhe delusive idea that 
 the slaves cannot be safely manumitted at 
 home. He is under no necessity of sin- 
 ning. If the laws forbid him to liberate 
 his slaves in legal form, and provide for 
 reducing them again, when thus liberated, 
 into bondage, let him treat them as free- 
 men, so far as lies in his power, and then 
 exert his influence firmly, temperately, 
 prayerfully, and perseveringly, for the ulti- 
 mate abolition of the whole system. We 
 ought either to take up the plan of coloni- 
 zation for the avowed purpose of removing 
 from our nation the colored people, (or at 
 least the great mass of them,) and to make 
 7* 
 
82 FLTteRIOR DFTlES OT 
 
 thorough work of it, or we ought piibhcly, 
 totally^ and for ever to divorce it from the 
 question of abohtioii, and honestly say to 
 our Southern brethren, " your ultimate re- 
 sort must be home manumission." Then 
 we may, if we please, patronise coloniza- 
 tion upon the ground of its beneficial in- 
 fluence upon Africa, and, perhaps, the 
 reaction of that influence upon the United 
 States. 
 
 The question then to be decided is sim- 
 ply this : Cannot the slaves be safehj 
 tnamimitted at home 7 If not, then let 
 us make a united effort at colonization. 
 If they can, then let us rest the claims of 
 the Colonization Society simply on its 
 beneficial influence upon Africa : or, if 
 any choose, upon this and the reaction of 
 this influence upon the United States. 
 
 Cannot the slaves he safely manumit- 
 ted on their native soil ? The assertion 
 has been incessantly made at the South, 
 and re-echoed at the North, that such a 
 
SLAVE-HOLDERS. 
 
 83 
 
 measure would inevitably result in mas- 
 sacres, bloodshed, and extermination. The 
 proof of this assertion has been repeatedly- 
 demanded, but has never yet been furnish- 
 ed ; unless confident assertions, unsustain- 
 ed either by the character of God's govern 
 ment, the constitution of the human mind, 
 or the universal experience of mankind, 
 are proofs. Why should the substitution 
 of the system of free for that of slave labor 
 {by the masters themselves, be it remem- 
 bered, a7id not by a foreign poiver) be fol- 
 lowed by such disastrous consequences? 
 The masters are not asked suddenly to 
 release their slaves from all restraint ; to 
 turn them loose at once upon society to 
 wander in lawless hordes over the country, 
 plundcrmg, pilfering, and murdering in 
 their course. Interested demagogues have 
 found it convenient to ascribe this mad 
 scheme to prominent anti-slavery men, 
 and then to get up a great excitement in 
 opposing it. But not a solitary man at 
 
84 ULTERIOR DUTIES OF 
 
 the North who possesses a particle of good 
 sense or information, ever dreamed of 
 abolishing slavery in this way. The 
 manumitted slaves need not leave the 
 plantations of their former masters. If 
 humanely treated, what reason is there to 
 suppose that they would be disposed so to 
 do ? Ignorant and helpless as they are 
 universally admitted to be, could they not 
 be made to understand, with the help of a 
 little kind explanation, the necessity of 
 remaining under the guardianship of 
 those who had been their masters? At 
 all events the legislatures might im- 
 pose UPON THEM WHAT RESTRA INTS THEY 
 
 DEEMED NECESSARY. They might even 
 require them to remam for a limited period 
 of time on the plantations of their former 
 proprietors, and in the meantime they 
 might qualify them by a benevolent course 
 of education for farther privileges. Re- 
 straint, be it remembered, is not slavery. 
 Slavery is the condition of slaves ; and 
 
SLAVE-HOLDERS. 85 
 
 slaves are human beinofs " deemed, taken, 
 reputed, and adjndo-ed to be chattels per- 
 sonal, in the hands of their masters and 
 possessors, to all intents and purposes 
 whatsoever."' To be in this condition is 
 to be in slavery, not to be under whole- 
 some restraint. 
 
 The manumission which we at the 
 North advocate, is a voluntary manumis- 
 sion on the part of the masters. A class 
 of men among us have been loudly ac- 
 cused of wishing to interfere with the rights 
 of the masters, by effecting the abolition of 
 slavery without their consent. How they 
 would set about the accomplishment of 
 such a preposterous and unconstitutional 
 scheme it is difficult to conceive. We 
 may safely affirm that the most ardent and 
 sanguine among them never entertained 
 even a distant idea of this quixotic enter- 
 prise. The United States cannot consti- 
 tutionally legislate on this subject except 
 for the District of Columbia. But were it 
 
86 ULTERIOR DUTIES OF 
 
 in their power to wrest the slaves out of 
 the hands of the masters without their 
 consent, disastrous consequences might 
 then reasonably be expected to follow. In 
 this case we might expect scenes of blood- 
 shed and extermination, caused not by the 
 genius of voluntary emancipation^ but 
 by the genius of slavery^ arraying itself 
 against the liberty of its subjects. All ar- 
 guments against the safety of home aboli- 
 tion drawn from the evil results, real or 
 pretended, of compulsory emancipation, 
 (as i\\ the British West India Isles.) are, 
 therefore, utterly fallacious when applied 
 to the United States. The question is not 
 what would be the consequences were the 
 slaves wrested by main force from the 
 hands of their masters, but what would be 
 the consequences were these masters, by 
 their own voluntary act^ to liberate their 
 slaves. 
 
 Why should scenes of bloodshed follow ? 
 Were our Southern brethren willing this 
 
SLAVE-HOLDERS. 87 
 
 day to abolish their slave-laws, and to 
 substitute in their place wholesome and 
 equitable laws for the regulation and go- 
 vernment of the colored people, what 
 mighty convulsion would be the result? 
 The Word of God, the constitution of hu- 
 man nature, and the experience of all ages, 
 testify, that to treat men with justice and 
 benevolence is not the way to excite them 
 to deeds of blood. The awful scenes of 
 St. Domingo, be it remembered, were not 
 the result of a voluntary act on the part of 
 the masters manumitting their slaves. If 
 there is a fanatical doctrine any where on 
 this globe, it is the doctrine that by deny- 
 ing to the slaves their unalienable rights 
 they can be prevented from cutting their 
 masters' throats. 
 
 The system of slavery has been com- 
 pared to a dam built across a river, which 
 has caused the meadows above to be over- 
 flowed. It is admitted that this dam is a 
 nuisance which ought to be abated, but 
 
88 ULTERIOR DUTIES OF 
 
 not too suddenly, lest the rush of waters 
 should also injure the meadows lying he- 
 low. If this comparison is designed to 
 illustrate the folly of carrying out abstract 
 principles of justice without regard to con- 
 sequences, it certainly holds good. The 
 dam ought not to be demolished so sud- 
 denly as to inundate the meadows below. 
 But, if the object of the similitude is to 
 prove that the slaves could not this day be 
 safely emancipated, were the masters dis- 
 posed to set them free, it is defective ; for 
 it has not yet been shown that were the 
 dam broken down at once in the middle to 
 its foundations, the waters icould overjloiu 
 their hanks so as to do serious injury. 
 
 The comparison may be, in my judg- 
 ment, materially amended thus : 
 
 The slave system is a huge dam thrown 
 across a broad and deep river for the pri- 
 vate advantage of its proprietors. It is 
 composed of. enormous blocks of hewn 
 granite, fastened together with massive 
 iron bolts. The waters, impeded in their 
 
SLAVE-HOLDERS. O^ 
 
 natural course, have already overflowed 
 many thousands of acres of their neighbors' 
 land, and are rapidly setting back into the 
 neighboring villages. The inhabitants 
 remonstrate with the builders. They 
 reply, '• We admit that this dam is a great 
 evil, abstractly considered ; yet, if we were 
 instantly to demolish it, it would ruin every 
 plantation for twenty miles below." Mean- 
 time they keep at work making it longer 
 and broader and higher. Might not their 
 neighbors living above justly reply : We 
 ask you first to stop building ; then to go 
 to work in good earnest in the centre of 
 the channel, and demolish it as fast as you 
 can : were it so weak as to be in danger of 
 being suddenly carried away by the pres- 
 sure of water above upon the removal of a 
 few props, we would then say: Take care; 
 don't go too fast. But now we say : You 
 are in no danger of precipitancy ; go to 
 work with all your might, for you have an 
 herculean task before you." 
 
90 DUTIES AND RIGHTS 
 
 DUTIES AND RIGHTS OF NORTHERN 
 
 MEN. 
 
 These are the foUowinaf: 
 
 1. To gain accurate information on 
 the subject. 
 
 The question of slavery is one of com- 
 mon concern to the citizens of this repub- 
 lic. The United States are "many mem- 
 bers, yet but one body." They are so 
 compacted together by their constitution, 
 and })y their natural relations to each 
 other, that, "if one member suffers, all 
 the members suffer with it ; or, if one 
 member is honored, all the members 
 rejoice with it." It is not impertinence 
 nor officious intermeddling in us to inves- 
 tigate this question for ourselves. In so 
 doing we must be careful to draw our 
 information from authentic sources. If 
 we rely on the ex parte statements of 
 interested witnesses, we shall be certainly 
 
OF NORTHERN MEN. 91 
 
 misled ; for m questions of this nature 
 nothing is easier than to utter falsehood 
 by speaking the truth. 
 
 One man goes into the plantation of 
 a pious and humane planter, who treats 
 his slaves with parental kindness, and 
 faithfully instructs them in the doctrines 
 and duties of revelation. Forthwith he 
 sits down and presents us with a glowing 
 portraiture of Southern Slavery^ drawn 
 exclusively from the materials which sur- 
 round him, and well set off with bitter 
 invectives against Northern fanatics and 
 incendiaries, in which he is sure to betray 
 his ignorance of their real motives, designs, 
 and actions. 
 
 Another is brought into contact with 
 masters of a different character. He sees 
 slaves of both sexes, in the presence of a 
 promiscuous crowd, laid prostrate on the 
 earth, their hands and their feet bound 
 with cords, their backs bared to the lash, 
 their flesh quivering and bleeding at every 
 
92 DUTIES AND RIGHTS 
 
 Stroke, and all this at the caprice of an 
 irresponsible individual. His blood boils 
 within him, as well it may, at this dis- 
 gusting scene of brutality ; and straight- 
 way he sends on to the North his por- 
 traiture of Southern Slavery^ where it is 
 exhibited to the public as a precious 
 jewel of truth, plentifully ornamented with 
 hard names, like a gold ring set with dia- 
 monds. One-sided views of slavery of 
 each of the above characters have been 
 published in our journals usque ad nau- 
 seam. 
 
 If we are to adopt this method of inves- 
 tigation, there is an end to all certainty. 
 The whole question of slavery becomes 
 a perfect chaos " without form and void " 
 enveloped in midnight darkness. The 
 man who would arrive at correct conclu- 
 sions himself, or guide others to correct 
 conclusions, must take a different course. 
 He must examine the system of slavery 
 in its various tendencies, as they are actu- 
 
OF NORTHERN MEN. 96 
 
 ally developed at the South, and likely to 
 be farther developed. He has certainly a 
 riorht to exhibit instances of extreme cru- 
 elty as illustrations of one of its obvious 
 tendencies. He has a right to inquire, 
 and to ascertain if he can, how far the 
 masters abuse the enormous legal powers 
 which the slave-laws confer upon them; 
 and to state the results of his investiga- 
 tions. This will require great candor, 
 and extensive personal observation. If 
 he errs at all, he ought certainly to err on 
 the side of charity, instead of stretching 
 the truth respecting the cruelty of slave- 
 holders to its utmost limits. 
 
 2. To diffuse this information through 
 the community. 
 
 This may be done by private and social 
 intercourse, by epistolary correspondence, 
 by the circulation of " writings containing 
 temperate and judicious discussions," and 
 by public debates and addresses. The 
 right of free inquiry is the inheritance of 
 8* 
 
94 DUTIES AND RIGHTS 
 
 every American citizen. He is at perfect 
 liberty to discuss whatever subject he 
 chooses in a peaceable manner, without 
 asking- leave of any. Nor can he forfeit 
 this invaluable right by his imprudence 
 or intemperate zeal. If he slanders his 
 neighbor, the law provides a remedy for 
 the injured party, while it secures his 
 future freedom of discussion unimpaired. 
 Who does not know that the pretext 
 which tyrants have always made use of 
 for muzzhng the press is its "seditious 
 and incendiary character"? As Ameri- 
 can citizens, then, we are solemnly bound 
 to guard against all encroachments upon 
 this inestimable right, under whatever 
 pretext. 
 
 But we have special claims to the pri- 
 vilege of discussing the question of Ame- 
 rican slavery. The case stands thus : 
 
 Our Southern brethren declare a por- 
 tion of their fellow-men to be " chattels 
 personal in the hands of their masters and 
 
OF NORTHERN MEN. 95 
 
 possessors to all intents and purposes 
 whatsoever." 
 
 They authorize their masters to sepa- 
 rate for ever husband and wife, parent and 
 child, whenever it suits their convenience. 
 
 They deny them the privilege of being 
 parties to a judicial tribunal in any species 
 of action against their masters, how atro- 
 cious soever the injuries they may have 
 received from them. 
 
 They authorize their masters to supply 
 them with such food and raiment only, 
 both as to quantity and quality, as they 
 shall think proper or find convenient. 
 
 They deprive them of all rights to hold 
 property. " A slave can do nothing, pos- 
 sess nothing," (not even his wife and 
 children.) "but which must belong, in 
 point of law, to his master." 
 
 They authorize their masters to sell, 
 mortgage, or lease them at pleasure. 
 
 They authorize them to be sold by pro- 
 cess of law for the satisfaction of the 
 
96 DUTIES AND RIGHTS 
 
 debts of their masters living or deceasedj^ 
 at the suit of creditors. 
 
 They authorize their masters to intrust 
 all these de.'poic powers to any agent or 
 agents whom they may choose to appoint. 
 
 They forbid their masters to manumit 
 them, except in certain special cases, which 
 must, in the nature of things, be of rare 
 occurrence. 
 
 They deprive them of the right of trial 
 by jury. 
 
 They seal up God's Holy Bible, by 
 forbidding, under heavy penalties, their 
 being taught to read. 
 
 All these accumulated injuries they 
 make their innocent offspring heirs to 
 " for ever hereafter." 
 
 And when these injured men, whom 
 God created " free and equal," escape from 
 under the oppressive weight of these un- 
 righteous laws into the Northern States, 
 they call upon us to deliver them up 
 again into a system of bondage which we 
 
OF NORTHERN MEN. 97 
 
 Utterly loathe and abhor ; and our magis- 
 trates are solemnly bound by their oath 
 of office to comply with the demand ! 
 
 Moreover, if these slaves should rise up 
 in rebellion against their oppressors,* we 
 are bound by the constitution of the Uni- 
 ted States to spill our blood, and expend 
 our treasures, in assisting their masters to 
 regain their dominion over them : — yes, 
 we are bound to hazard our fortunes and 
 our lives in sustaining a system which 
 authorizes men to be bought and sold 
 like horses and mules, and which forbids 
 them to read God's Holy Word ! ! 
 
 These are the demands of our Southern 
 brethren. They claim our co-operation, 
 according to the constitution of the United 
 States, in sustaining this system of oppres- 
 sion EVEN UNTO BLOOD ; and when we 
 attempt to remonstrate Avith them, they 
 
 * In the event of a foreign war, audi an insurrection is 
 highly probable, especially should it be encouraged by 
 the enemy. 
 
98 DUTIES AND RIGHTS 
 
 turn and say, "This is a delicate ques- 
 tion : it belongs to us alone : you have no 
 right to meddle with it: as sure as you 
 do, the Union will be dissolved : fanatics, 
 beware " ! ! ! 
 
 Northern men understand their rights 
 on this subject, and they are unalterably 
 determined to maintain them. 
 
 3. To " abn . to convince our fellow- 
 citizens''^ in the SoiUh '-'•by arguments 
 addressed to their iinderstandiiigs and 
 consciences^ that slave-holding is a hein- 
 ous sin in the sight of God ; and that 
 the duty^ safety^ and interests of all con- 
 cerned^ require '' that the whole system 
 should be abolished, without expatriation^ 
 in the speediest and best manner pos- 
 sible. 
 
 " Arguments addressed to the under- 
 standings and consciences of men" (the 
 only weapons which we at the North 
 have a right to use) are no interference 
 with their " exclusive rights ; " otherwise 
 
OF NORTHERN MEN. 99 
 
 it is hiffh time for us to put a stop by legis- 
 lative enactments to the discussion of the 
 temperance question in every shape ; since 
 the manufacturers, venders, and consum- 
 ers of ardent spirits hold in their own 
 hands the "exclusive right,'' so far as man 
 is concerned, to cease from these prac- 
 tices. If anti slavery men at the North 
 have assailed their slave-holding breth- 
 ren in the South with uncourteous, un- 
 christian, and slanderous language, let 
 them be rebuked for this sin ; but let not 
 the ridiculous charge of attempting to 
 legislate for the South, or to interfere 
 with their "domestic policy," be preferred 
 against them. 
 
 In the present excited state of the com- 
 munity it seems to be almost impossible to 
 maintain a free intercourse with the South 
 on this momentous question. I hope, for 
 the honor of human nature and for the 
 welfare of our nation, that it will not 
 always be so ; but that both parties, laying 
 
100 MANNER IN WHICH THE 
 
 aside all opprobrious epithets, will come 
 to the consideration of the subject with 
 manly dignity, courage, candor, and bene- 
 volence ; remembering thai they are acting 
 for gfenerations of unborn millions. Such 
 a kind, free, and Christian interchange of 
 feelings and views on this solemn ques- 
 tion, is a "Consummation"' of moral influ- 
 ence •• devoutly to be wished for." 
 
 MANNER IN WHICH THE QUESTION 
 SHOULD BE DISCUSSED. 
 
 This is of immense importance. If 
 there is on the face of the globe a difficult 
 and delicate question, demanding the ut- 
 most wisdom, prudence, and firmness on 
 the part of those who discuss it, this is 
 that question. It involves immense inte- 
 rests, highly excited feelings, and invete- 
 rate prejudices. Let that man who han- 
 dles it with rude and reckless contempt of 
 
(irrsTios 
 
 will DOC bold him ^■ 
 
 ing are some of 
 
 to reguiaie our G.>_^^^.. 
 
 SQbiecL 
 
 I. it if mw dvUf t§ 
 
 It does DoC become : 
 gxwd caose to get an^ry 
 moathed ainse an ' 
 These weapons be. 
 who haTe exhaosDei 
 aifumeDts. It ^ 
 knowkds^. r -' 
 to heap o: 
 handr: 
 
 hat JeboTah 
 The ibliov- 
 
 ■B-hich ough: 
 
 10 
 
 ■nh t: 
 
 leds!^ taeir exceiiences wnfi 
 to receire :^ 
 
102 MANNER IN WHICH THE 
 
 and to be rewarded for all our well meant 
 efforts with reproach, vjithout losing our 
 temper ; — does require no ordinary amount 
 of holiness. 
 
 2. It is our duty to maintain a spirit 
 of uniform kindness. 
 
 My views on this point are so perfectly 
 expressed by President Edwards that I will 
 take the liberty to transcribe his words. 
 
 " The bitter root of censoriousness must 
 be totally rooted out, as we would prepare 
 the way of the Lord. It has nourished 
 and upheld many other things contrary 
 to the humility, meekness, and love of the 
 gospel. The minds of many have receiv- 
 ed an unhappy turn, in some respects, 
 with their religion. There is a certain 
 point or sharpness, a disposition to a kind 
 of warmth, that does not savor of that 
 meek, lamb-like, sweet disposition that 
 becomes Christians. Many have now been 
 so long habituated to it, that they do not 
 know how to get out of it ; but we must 
 
QUESTION SHOULD BE DISCUSSED. 103 
 
 get out of i^, the point and sharpness must 
 be bhinted, and we must learn another 
 way of manifesting our zeal for God." — 
 Edwards on Revivals^ Part IV. Sec. 4. 
 Asrain : '• It has been the manner of 
 some persons to speak of almost every 
 thing they see amiss in others, in the 
 most harsh, severe, and terrible language. 
 It is frequent of them to say of others' 
 opinions, or conduct, or advice ; or of their 
 coldness, their silence, their, caution, their 
 moderation, and their prudence, and many 
 other things that appear in them, that they 
 are from the devil or from hell : that such 
 a thing is devilish, or hellish, or cursed ; 
 and that such persons are serving the 
 devil, or the devil is in them, and they are 
 soul-murderers, and the like ; so that the 
 words devil and hell are almost con- 
 tinually in their mouths. And such kind 
 of language they will commonly use, not 
 only towards wicked men, but towards 
 them that thev themselves allow to be the 
 
104 MANNER IN WHICH THE 
 
 true children of God, and also towards 
 ministers of the gospel, and others that 
 are very much their superiors. And they 
 look upon it a virtue and very high 
 attainment thus to behave themselves. 
 " Oh," say they, " we must be plain-hearted 
 and bold for Christ, we must declare war 
 against sin wherever we see it, we must 
 not mince the matter in the cause of God, 
 and when speaking for Christ. 
 
 *' What a strange device of the devil is 
 here to overthrow all Christian meekness 
 and gentleness, and even all show and 
 appearance of it, and to defile the mouths 
 of the children of God, and to introduce 
 the language of common sailors among 
 the followers of Christ, under a cloak of 
 high sanctity, and zeal, and boldness for 
 Christ ] And it is a remarkable instance 
 of the weakness of the human mind, and 
 how much too cuunino^ the devil is for us. 
 
 " The grand defense of this way of talk- 
 in sf is that thev sav no more than what is 
 
QUESTION SHOULD BE DISCUSSED. 105 
 
 true ; they only speak the truth without 
 mincing the matter. 
 
 "But it is a grand mistake that we may 
 commonly use, concerning one another, 
 all such language as represents the worst 
 of each other, according to strict truth." 
 — Ibidem.) Sect. 1. 
 
 This hard and censorious spirit he very 
 justly ascribes to spiritual pride. That 
 anti-slavery men at the North have greatly 
 displeased God by indulging it, cannot be 
 denied. Nor is the goodness of their 
 cause any apology. For if it is, then 
 Satan himself may set about the work of 
 demolishing heathen temples, and charge 
 all who presume to object to his course 
 with being the abettors of idolatry, because 
 he is on the side of God and of truth. 
 
 In thus frankly censuring these men, 
 where I think that the cause of abolition 
 requires it, let me not for a moment be 
 understood as joining in the absurd hue 
 and cry which has been raised against 
 9* 
 
106 MANNER IN WHICH THE 
 
 them by designing men at the South and 
 elsewhere, who wish to " ride in the whirl- 
 wind and direct the storm," and in which 
 I regret to say that many good men have 
 joined. 
 
 Because they have exposed the heinous 
 guilt of the slave system, (not always, it 
 must be confessed, in the kindest spirit,) 
 they have been accused of wishing to 
 excite the slaves to deeds of insurrection 
 and blood.* 
 
 Because they have earnestly remon- 
 strated with the Southern States for per- 
 petuating the system of slavery, they have 
 been charged with attempting to wrest 
 
 * The man that would encourage the slaves to rise up 
 in rebellion against their masters deserves to be hanged. 
 We cannot, however, consent to stop the discussion of this 
 question at the North for fear that the slaves should disco- 
 ver that we consider their masters guilty for holding them 
 in bondage. Publicadons addressed to the reason and 
 consciences of the masters are not "seditioiLs" or "incen- 
 diary" in any proper sense of the word. If they are, 
 then all efforts to persuade those who are injuring their 
 fellow-men to repent, are "seditious" and " ipccndiary." 
 
QUESTION SHOULD BE DISCUSSED. 107 
 
 their slaves out of their hands by legisla- 
 tive enactments. 
 
 Because they have maintained the duty 
 and expediency of immediately abolishing 
 the slave system, and substituting in its 
 place wise and equitable laws for the 
 regulation of the colored people which 
 shall recognise them as freemen, they 
 have been accused of wishing to have 
 them all turned loose uipon society a', 
 once without restraint. 
 
 Because they have plainly pointed out 
 the ruinous tendency of the slave system 
 in its influence upon the United States, 
 they have been accused of wishing to 
 dissolve the Union.* 
 
 * It has been the poHcy of certain prominent men in 
 die Southern States to carry llicir obnoxious measures, by 
 holding- up in terrorem a dissolution of the Union. When 
 Missouri apphedfor admission to the Union, the non-slave- 
 holding- states wished to exclude slavery from the territery ; 
 but these men predicted a dissolution of the Union : so the 
 North compromised. The same argument was used to 
 procure a repeal of the tariff: and now we are solemnly 
 
108 
 
 MANNER IN WHICH THE 
 
 They have been branded as "incendia- 
 ries," " fanatics," and "traitors," while all 
 proof of these grievous charges has been 
 carefully withheld. 
 
 They have been held up to public exe- 
 cration as the offscouring of all things 
 as "pestilent fellows" and "movers "of 
 
 'Z^l^' T"" *^S-'-"™^ "■^' 'h- will inevi,.bly 
 alio* .hcmseUes ,o be awed into silence by this aro-ument, 
 
 quesnon of local m.eres, after ano.ber, umil ,bey are 
 rcqu-red lo yield every thing. 
 
 The Union is dear to us at the North. We do not wish 
 .o have ,t l-roken^ If i, is ,o be dissolved, le, i, be the ac. 
 
 Ae earl™'h';1 ""' °"/"^ """ ^^"^^ ">e nations of 
 the earth shall demand of them the reason, let them 
 turn and say, "We converted a portion of c^ur fe w 
 men ,n,o chattels personal we bought, sold, mortpted 
 .nd leased them at pleasure: we deprived them by U^ of 
 Ae prtvtlege of reading God's Word : when they escaped 
 fromundero.rdomiuioninto,heN„r,hernStatcs,lecaId 
 and when they earnestly (and sometimes rudely and 
 
QUESTION SHOILD BE DISCUSSED. 109 
 
 sedition," throug-Iiout all the United States ; 
 thoiiofh all candid men at the North, who 
 have had an opportunity of knowincr and 
 appreciating their characters, are com- 
 pelled by stubborn facts to admit that 
 they are honest and good men. 
 
 And yet these calumniators of anti- 
 slavery men are preaching against ca- 
 kimny — with beams in their own eyes, 
 they are endeavoring to pull out the motes 
 from their neighbors' eyes ! 
 
 3. It is our duty to maintain a tolerant 
 spirit. 
 
 Men that are agreed with their brethren 
 on the fundamental point that the slave 
 system is sinful and not to be in any way 
 courjtenanced or abetted, are not to be 
 hardly judged or censured because they 
 differ from them as to the best mode of 
 combating the evil. Neither are they to 
 be denounced as timid, over-prudent,^ va- 
 cillating fence-men, because they r-annot 
 clear, at a sino-le bound, everv " middle 
 
110 MANNER IN WHICH THE 
 
 wall of partition " that others may think 
 proper to build. Where God draws his 
 line of duty we have no right to hesitate : 
 we must keep wholly on the prescribed 
 side. But where uninspired men draw 
 their line, we are at perfect liberty to 
 stand on either side, or directly upon it, 
 according to our views of duty. 
 
 4. It is our duty to make the slavery 
 question svbordinate to the gospel. 
 
 It should not be made the all-absorbing 
 topic of conversation and discussion, so 
 as completely to fill the whole horizon of 
 our thoughts, and mix itself with every 
 thing we say and do. The gospel of 
 Christ alone can claim this high pre- 
 eminence. 
 
 5. It is our imperative duty to give 
 this momentous subject a place in our 
 prayers. 
 
 The slave system is undoubtedly the 
 most enormous evil under which our 
 nation o^roans. It lies at the foundation 
 
(QUESTION SHOULD BE DISCUSSED. Ill 
 
 t)f the unhappy sectional jealousy which 
 has existed for so many years between the 
 North and the South. 
 
 It is a vine of Sodom, whose grapes are 
 gall, and whose clusters are wormwood ; 
 its poisonous branches are rapidly over- 
 shadowing the length and the breadth of 
 our land. Until it is finally eradicated 
 from the soil of these United States, it will 
 be to the whole nation a " root of bit- 
 terness" springing up to trouble us; 
 and it will, if it is not speedily extirpated, 
 assuredly expose us to the righteous dis- 
 pleasure of that God who is no respecter 
 of persons. Human strength will not 
 avail to effect its removal from our midst. 
 We must have the help of God, or we 
 are undone, and for this help he will be 
 inquired of by his people. 
 
112 DUTY OF 
 
 DUTY OF THE CHURCHES. 
 
 It is the duty of the churches to testify 
 the truth respecting the system of slavery. 
 It is true that it is a heinously guilty sys- 
 tem, not to be in any way countenanced 
 or abetted ; and they ought unequivocally 
 to say so. The man who at the present 
 day maintains his right to buy, sell, or hold 
 his fellow-men as chattels personal, is, in 
 my view, unworthy of the fellowship of 
 the saints. Were the responsibility of 
 deciding whether such a man should be 
 admitted to the membership of a church 
 over which I presided, or rejected ; with my 
 present views of duty, I should certainly 
 exclude him as guilty of an evident immo- 
 rality. Yet, considering the numerous 
 and formidable embarrassments which the 
 laws of most of the slave-holding states 
 have wickedly thrown in the way of those 
 masters who are willing to emancipate 
 
THE CHURCHEg. 113 
 
 their slaves, I would not break fellow- 
 ship with a Christian brother, simply 
 because he held the legal relation of mas- 
 ter to a portion of his fellow-men, where 
 I had reasonable evidence that he honestly 
 desired to know and do his duty; — evi- 
 dence, I mean, derived not from his words, 
 but from his actions. My views of the 
 duty of slave-holders in such circum- 
 stances have been given above. 
 
 I have now given an honest exhibition 
 of my views on this question. In so 
 doing I have felt under all the solemn 
 responsibilities of a witness called to g-ive 
 testimony in a case involving the temporal 
 and eternal interests of millions " born 
 and to be born." Should I hereafter see 
 reason for altering these views in any 
 respect, I hold myself under solemn obliga- 
 tion to the cause of truth to do so with 
 frankness and candor. 
 
 May the God of our fathers guide all 
 concerned in the discussion of this mo- 
 10 
 
114 DUTY OF THE CHURCHEfl. 
 
 mentous subject into such views and con- 
 duct as shall be acceptable in his siorht. 
 With Iiina are our destinies. His hot dis- 
 pleasure can wither us in a moment. His 
 wrath we can no more withstand than the 
 towering oak can withstand the red light- 
 nings of heaven. He has but to speak, and 
 the sun of our prosperity which has risen 
 with such splendor, will set to rise no- 
 more. Ohj that we might feel this solemn 
 truth I 
 
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 feb 1989