:— '♦- <^ ^% % A^ -AT %°-.'^'''^<>' V**^^*\-»* V'^^'^o'' " .♦ iT .^ .. •^:.^^a:Jij^ '^ ♦ o V ^^-^^v n ^.^*^.: 4-- •^.•'>^ . V.--. THE CRISIS— SLAVERY OR FREEDOM. A DISCOURSE PEEACIJED IN WILLISTON AND HINESBUKGH, ON SUNDAYS, JUNE 25th, AND JULY 2d, 1854. BY b H. P. OUTTINa. " What Constitutes a State ? Not high raised battlements and labored mound, Thick wall or moated gate , Not cities prouil with spires and turrets crowned ; Not bays and broad armed ports, Where laughing :it the storm ,proud navies ride, Not starred and spangled courts. Where low-browed baseness wafts perfumes to pride. No ! Men ! Iligh-minded men — Men who their duties /cnoiu, But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain BURLINGTON : PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL B. NICHOLS. Stats & 3amjson, ^rinttis. 1854. THE CRISIS— SLAVERY OR FREEDOM. ^ i » ♦ t' » DISCOURSE PREACHED IN WILLISTON AND HINESBURGH, ON SUNDAYS, JUNE 25th, AND JULY 2d, 1854. BY H. P. CUTTING. "Wliat Constitutes a State ? Not higli raised battlements and laliored mound, Thick wall or moated gate , Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned ; Not bays and broad armed ports, Where laughing at the storm , proud navies ride, Not starreil and sjiangled courts, Where low-browed baseness wafts perfumes to pride. No ! Men I Iligh-minded men — Men uko their duties know, But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain BURLINGTON : PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL B. NICHOLS. Statj ^ 3amtson, |3rt'uttrj5. 1854. ^.^Cj/ \^ r " In Orpheus' Theatre, all beasts and birds assembled ; and forgetting their severarappetites, some of prey, some of game, some of quarrel, stood all sociably together, listening unto the airs and accords of the harp ; the sound whereof no sooner ceased, or was drowned by some louder noise, but every beast returned to his own nature ; wherein is aptly described the Jia- ture and conditions of men, who are full of savage and unreclaimed desires of profit, of lust, of revenge : which, as long as they give ear to precepts, to laws, to religion, sweetly touched with eloquence and persuasions of books, of ssrmons, of harangues, so long is society and peace maintained ; but if these instruments be silent, or sedition or tumult make them not au- dible, all things dissolve into anarchy and confusion." Lord Bacon on Goveknment. DISCOURSE. Liberty exalteth a Nation, but Slavery is a disgrace to any people. My only apology for addressing you at this time and place, on the present Crisis — Slavery or Freedom — is expressed in the noble words of Milton in his preface to his defense of the people of England : " Na- ture and laws would be in an ill case, if slavery should find what to say for itself, and liberty be mute ; and if tyrants should find men to plead for them, and they that can master and vanquish tyrants, should not be able to find advocates. And it were a deplorable thing indeed, if the reason mankind is endued withal, and which is the gift of God, should not furnish more arguments for mens' preservatio7i, for their deliverance, and, as much as the nature of the thing will bear, for making them equal to one another , than for their oppression, and for their ruin under the domineering power of one single person. Let me therefore enter upon this noble cause with cheerfulness, ground- ed upon this assurance, that slavery is maintained by nothing but fraud, fallacy, ignorance and barbarity ; whereas liberty has light, truth, reason, the practice and the learning of the best ages of the world on its side." It is therefore with hope in the issue, and confidence in the justice of the anti-slavery cause, that I now enter upon its discussion with a zeal, not in hatred, but in love, with an inflexible, determined purpose to cleave to the right at all peril, while I hope to feel the glowing inspiration of christian enthusiasm. Since the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, slavery has become national, and freedom sectional. Slavery is king. In consequence of the unsatisfied demand and aggressive character of slavery, the public sentiment of the free states is going through a political and moral revolution. The crisis has come, and there is now no middle ground to be taken between slavery and freedom. We must fight now or be slaves ; and if we will not, loe ought to be slaves. If there is any- thing in us deserving the name of manhood, any love of justice and our fellow men, let us take our stand on the side of freedom, and work actively, perpetually for it, if it costs life, limb, reputation, or whatever earthly comfort we may hold dear. It is time we did some- thing to wipe away the disgrace of being a slaveholding, slave-catch- ing and kidnapping nation. The slave calls, and God speaks : " do your duty now.'''' " We must he free or die, who speak the tongue Which Shakspeare spake ; the faith and morals hold, Which Milton held. In everything we are sprung Of earth's first blood, have titles manifold."' I purpose to look at the subject from two points of view : 1st, his- toi-ically ; 2d, practically. People ought to understand distinctly the history of those compromises with slavery, which have ended in the passage of the Nebraska Bill, making all compromises, contracts and compacts inoperative and void. If any justice shall be done to this part of the subject, it will be seen how the slave power has gain- ed its end in every compromise since the formation of the constitu- tion ; and how subservient the friends of freedom have been. I shall tread on solid ground. Facts and clear evidence can be beaten down by no ability. Before entering upon the historical treatment of the subject, I shall indulge in a few more preliminary remarks. During the present session of Congress, slavery has been crowned absolute monarch. Northern men with southern principles did the deed. Upon them rests the responsibility. But by being traitors to northern sentiment, they have been the means of bringing the issue before northern people ; and it is for them to decide which they will have, all slavery and no freedom, or all freedom and no slavery. The passage of the Nebraska bill sweeps away all compromises with slavery, so that not a vestige of them remains. This bill declares that the Missouri compromise of 1820, which solemnly forbade slave» ry to go beyond 36 deg. 30 miu., is " inconsistent with the principles of non-intervention by congress with slavery in the states and territories as recognized by the legislation of 1850, commonly called the com' promise measures, is hereby declared inoperative and void." This measure is an open violation of plighted faith. It drives us to the side of freedom at all peril to the union of these states. If the union of these states depends upon maintaining the interests of slavery and throttling freedom in New England, the union is a curse and ought to be broken — the sooner the better. Befoie we are driven to this al- ternative, let us try what truth, justice and determined opposition to the slave power will do in the present struggle. " In the great con- flict now commencing," says Horace Greeley, "to resist the surrender of this union and government to the slaveholders, we wish to know no party names or divisions. We desire to see enlisted under our ban- ner all who are opposed to the invasion of the free territories of the north by the slaveholders of the south ; all who wish to see liber- ty and not slavery the great interest of the state. We ask, who is ready to league together to dethrone the new monarch ? Freedom has been betrayed and sacrificed. Its gates have been thrown open by foul treachery, the invader has entered and revels in his spoils ! A territory which one short year ago was unanimously considered by all, north and south, as sacredly secure by irrepealable law io freedom for- ever, has been foully betrayed by traitor hearts and traitor voices, and surrendered to slavery. Conspiracy has done its worst. Treason has done its worst. Who comes to the rescue ?" It is a question of paramount importance to understand how it hap- pens, that Slavery is dominant and Freedom subservient. It is a his- torical fact, that from the introduction of Slavery into this country to the present time. Slaveholders have steadily gained new Territory, and made the Government subservient to their interests. The present ad- ministration with all its civil and military power, is on the side of slav- ery. It is kidnapping in spirit, slave-catching in practice, and slave- holding in sentiment. It knows no God but Slavery. It sends up a yell of triumph at the return of Anthony Burns from Boston into slave- ry again, and fires one hundred guns near the Capitol, when the Ne- braska Bill is passed. When some venal Judge makes a slave-pen of court houses, surrounds himself with kidnappers, bayonets, and loaded cannons, it promises more help of the same kind, if wanted, to enslave a freeman. It rewards the patriotism of Doctors of Divinity when they offer to send their own mothers into slavery to save the Union. It loves the doctrine which has disgraced the American pulpit, and made infi- dels hang their heads in shame for some of the preachers who have ex- horted their people to obey the powers that be, even if the powers that be, are hunkers, drunkards, atheists, duellists, menstealers, pirates and murderers. There are causes which lie back of this dominant pro- slavery administration, which by an inevitable law, has made slavery national and insolent, and Freedom subservient and pusillanimous. Slavery is the great national element in politics and legislation. In order to understand the causes which have led to this result, we must inquire of history. There is no better way to get at the facts than this, though there are more striking methods in which the subject may be treated. I shall not dwell longer than necessary upon this part, but shall soon pass to the practical question — What shall be done to de- throne Slavery, and place our government actively, firmly and perpetu- ally on the side of Freedom ? Slavery is a very old iniquity. It is said, that the traffic in slaves was carried on in Europe a half a century before the discovery of A- merica. In 1441, ships brought slaves from Africa into Europe for the purpose of sale. In two years from this time, this traffic was car- ried on to some extent, by several Europeans. England began to buy and sell slaves as early as 1562. In 1567, this traffic was carried on " under the protection of Queen Elizabeth, she sharing in the profits thereof." The first attempt to buy and sell slaves in America was in 1445. There was a ship owned by Thomas Keyser and James Smith, (this James Smith was a member of an evangelical church, and not the last church member who has been engaged in this system of theft, pi- racy and murder) sailed from Boston for Guinea to trade in negroes, and returned with a cargo of human beings. To the honor of Massa- chusetts, at that time, this act was denounced as piracy, contrary to the laws of God and man. The General Court ordered that these ne- groes should be sent back to their country free. It was done. This was the spirit of Massachusetts speaking through her tribunal in 1645. Con- trast it with the spirit of her tribunal in 1854, when she allows a man to be stolen in the streets of Boston, and sent into perpetual slavery at the point of cannons loaded with grape shot, and a thousand muskets! Slavery, in some form, existed from the first permanent settlement of Virginia. It was, however, in August 1620, that the first cargo of slaves were brought to Virginia jn a Dutch ship, and sold to the plan- ters. This was four months previous to the landing of the Pilgrim Colony in America. So far as I can learn from historical documents within my reach, this 11 unless the slaveholder •was allowed to reclaim his slave in the new ter- ritory is a question which politicians and statesmen have not satisfac- torily decided. It is clear enough, if there had been men in Congress, who loved the idea of Liberty more than the Union, more than all Compromises, we should not have been cursed with all these evils. Men thought then, as they do now, that injustice can be enacted with law, and prosper. Here again the American idea was beaten down by the Southern idea of Despotism. Passing over whole volumes of history from 1787 to 1818, I learn from public documents of the time, and also from many of the histori- cal speeches made in Congress during the present session, that a Bill was reported in the House of Representatives for the purpose of or- ganising a government in the Missouri Territory. It was proposed at that time, by James Tallmudge, of N. Y., that all children born slaves, should be free on reachino; the ace of 25 years. This motion was lost. The question came up again and again, — should slavery go into this whole Territory ? The whole North with few exceptions, were oppos- ed to it. There was much discussion in and out of Congress on this question. After a long and exciting contest in which all the States took part, Mr Thomson of Illinois proposed the Missouri Compromise, declaring that slavery should not go north of 36 deg. 30min. Those who voted for this Compromise were from the South, those who voted against it were from the North. There were a few from the North who voted for this Compromise, and among them, I think is the name of William A. Palmer then Senator from this State. On the third of March, 1820, we had the famous Missouri Compromise with slavery. When passed, it was regarded by the North and South as a final set- tlement of the question of slavery. A leading journal of the time says: " We wish to see tlic compact kept in good faith." One of the Sena- tors who assisted in getting it up, said it was " a happy result " a con- cialition " " and a finality " Observe that the South asked for this line 36 deg, 30 min., and did not give up till she gained her point. This is the third time in the history of our compromises with slavery, that slavery has become dominant and freedom subservient. In conse([uence of the new territory gained from Mexico, by the power of might and injustice, and the new demands of slavery, the struirgle was ao;ain i-enewed between the American idea of freedom and the slaveholding idea of despotism. The slaveholders claimed that the new territory, gained by lies and robbery, should be open to 12 slavery. The friends of Freedom denied it. After another long and exciting controversy, we had another finality with slavery by giving up to the slave power all it desired. It wanted the Fugitive Slave Law, and it was manufactured to order by Northern men with South- ern principles, though Mr. Mason of Virginia claims that it sprung from his brains with all its monstrous details. The histoi'v of the con- flict in 1850 is still fresh in the minds of the American people. The Fugitive Slave Law — embodying every-thing that was unjust, false, barbarous and atheistic in all former compromises, was passed. There is no villainy but that can be found in this Law — if I can be forgiven for applying the term Law to that which is a denial of all Law — Slave- ry said this law should deny trial by jury, that it should give a com- missioner $5 to try a fugitive slave, and $10 if he sent him back in- to perpetual bondage in a summary manner. It was done. It was imposed on the nation, because the slave power said it should be,what- ever the consequences might be. When the deed was done and Mr. Web- ster defended it in the name of the Constitution and the Union, a shout was heard from politicians, from pro-slavery pulpits, and a pro-slavery Press, North and South, that this Fugitive Slave Law was a final set- tlement between the vexing question of slavery and freedom. It was not only a settlement, but the salvation of this great American Union. Politicians and Divines declared that obedience to this law, was obedi- ence to God, because it was obedience to the powers that be. In this conflict freedom was not only beaten, driven out of the field, treated with contempt, but the Higher law of God was denied, jeered at in Congress, stabbed in its side by leading politicians, even preached down and prayed down in the American pulpit. This is the fourth compromise with slavery, having everythnig its own way, leaving noth- ing to freedom. The last result is the passage of the Nebraska Bill, by which all compromises with slavery, good, bad, or indiff'erent, are made null and void, and by which a Territory larger than New-England is opened to slavery. As this completes the historical* view which I proposed to myself when I commenced, it is proper to ask — shall we have any more com- promises with slavery ? Shall we not have a North ? Shall slavery * I have gathered historical facts from various sources ; — from Bancroft's History of the United States, Hildreth's, Niles' Register, National Intelligen- cer, New York Tribune, and several of the speeches made during the present session of Congress. was the first commencement of negro slavery in the English colonies. It is a remarkable fact, that, while slavery in its worst form was. spreading among the colonies, — the Democratic idea of the equality and natural rights of man should spring up at the same time, and in^ minds which sanctioned and sustained slavery. When this idea was announced, the Union of the States was its natural product. The New- England colonies developed the first idea of a Federal Union. Th& first step to realize such a Union, was in 1754. Benjamin Franklin was an earnest advocate for such a Union. He maintained its pro- priety in his paper published in Philadelphia, sometime during the above named year, A Congress convened at Albany, N. Y. Delegates were sent to this congress from the following states : N. H., Mass.,R. I., Ct., N. Y., Pcini., Md. Before any plans for a Ihiion could be formed, the revolutionary war came on, and the attention of all the States was turned to this conflict. The question was, not how they might form a Union on the Democratic idea of equal rights, but how they might defeat the common enemy. After the war was ended, and our Independence acknowledged, the idea of a Federal Union became the great idea of the Fathers of our Republic. But from the time the first Congress met till the close of the Revolution, Slavery had steadily gained ground, and had found its way into many of the States. A large amount of wealth was in slaves. What should be done with slavery ? It was an exciting question then, as the debates at that time show ; it has been, ever since, and will continue to be, just as long as the idea of human freedom has an advocate. In the Convention of 1787, Mr. Madison saw plainly that there must be a conflict between the Demo- cratic idea of e(|uality, and the Aristocratic idea of despotism. These ideas were represented by the North and the South. It is amonc the anomalies of human nature, that the North and South should unite and fight nobly for the American idea of Liberty, and then after the strug- gle, divide, one taking sides with this idea, the other with the idea of enslaving men. It is a fact that while Washington and Jefferson, lent their names, lives, and influence to sustain the great truth, that all men were created with equal rights, to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, they denied it by practically adhering to the aristocratic idea of Slavery. These two ideas went into the Convention which form- ed the Constitution, and we have but a faint idea of their antagonism. It was agreed in 1783, after much debate in which the North and South changed sides, that population should be the basis, upon which 2 10 they should divide the burdens of the States, and that the slaves should be counted as three-fifths. Here was a great concession to the slave power. Our fathers were true men, but if they had been truer men than they were, they never would have consented to this wrong. The South held slaves as chattels, to bo bought and sold at pleasure, and yet claimed that three-fifths should vote. I think this the root of that series of compromises with slavery which have ended in making all compromises void, and crowning slavery as monarch, with the right to go into new territory, and to make the whole country a hunting ground for Fugitive Slaves. At the formation of our Constitution, slavery got the start of freedom, and let us observe as we advance, how slavery has gained on freedom, at every step, ever since. In 1784, Virginia ceded to the United States her territory north west of the Ohio river. This territory was called the North Western Territory. It contained a larger number of acres than the present states of Virginia and Kentucky. On the admission of this Territory, the question was, whether it should be sacred to Freedom, or given over to slavery ? It was an idea well understood by the men of that day, that free labor, and slave labor, could not both go into this new territory. If free labor was admitted to enjoy all its rights, slavery must be kept out, for the two cannot exist in the same place, and at the same time. A new struggle arose in Congress between the Amer- ican idea of freedom, represented by the North, and the aristocratic idea of Despotism, represented by the South. Session after session for three years, the (Question was discussed whether slavery should go into this new territory. Propositions were made and rejected. Thus for three years, slavery and freedom stood staring each other in the face, not knowing which should conquer. But in 1787, there was got up in secret, and presented to Congress the Ordinance of 1787. This in- strument forbade the extension of slavery into the states which might be formed out of this new territory, but it contained a clause which gave the slaveholders a right to go into the new states, and reclaim their fugitive slaves. All the Southern members voted for it. This Ordinance was regarded a compact at the time, a compromise for the sake of peace and the Union. This is the second compromise with slavery. Here freedom gave up, and Slavery gained its purpose, and made this new territory a hunting ground for slaves. This was giving up Justice, Right and Freedom, for the sake of uniting the North and the South. Whether there could have been a settlement at that time, 15 with holy horror, when it hears a man affirm that the fugitive slave clause in the Constitution is in agreement with Devils and Slavehold- ers, and not with God and Man. It would give up the Bible before the Constitution and never will be burnt to the stake for adhering to the truth of the one, or the spirit of the other. Not it I never ! It talks long and loud of Law and order, of Union and the Constitution. Its chief characteristic is, its immovable, stand-still talent. Its highest wisdom is, never utter to a radical idea, nor speak a great truth w^ith heart of flame, or lips of fire. It never moves for fear of contradicting itself, or going in the wrong direction. It is encrusted in its hard shell like a mud turtle. We must get rid of him. Let the red hot coals of truth fall upon its back, and the winds of reform blowing up- on them will make him go forward. The worst thing he can do, when he starts is, to leave his conservative slime behind him. There is an- other preliminary step equally important. It is to make war upon the supporters of slavery at home. In the coming struggle, they shall have no quarter. " Carthago delenda est." " The first beginning should be the consumption as with flaming fire, the doughfaces and white slaves of the north." These preliminaries being taken, we shall begin to speak and act to the purpose. 1. In order to place our government on the side of freedom, we must, in the present crisis, develop more distinctly than we have done, the sentiment of political justice. I mean by this expression, that man as man has Rights which are peculiar to him, which are a part of his moral constitution, and that no laws may violate these Rights with impunity. Among these rights are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Slavery, and everything which pertains to it, in every possible form in which it can exist, is an emphatic denial of this senti- ment of Political Justice. I assume that the slave is a man, and there- fore has all the rights which belong to any man born in New England. And here I join issue with slavery, and call it " the sum of all villia- nies," every law which in any way supports it, I call falsehoods, an out- rages upon my fellow men; a denial of God's Paternity, Human Broth- erhood; an entire rejection of Christ's divine teaching, — " AVhatever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." It is a system of theft, of piracy, of murder , of adultery and of the darkest and the most damning kind of Atheism. It is theft, for it takes a man whom our laws presume is free, and whom we know has a right to his body and mind, — dating before all constitutions ; and carries him iito 16 perpetual !)onclage. It docs this deed oa the coasts of Africa, arid on the soil of Massachusetts. It is therefore a system of stealing. It is piracy, for it takes human beings on the high seas as property, sells tliem as such. This constitutes piracy. It is so declared by an act of Congress, April 30, 1790. It is therefore a system of piracy. It is a system of murder. Murder is wilfully and by premeditation, taking the life of a human being. Slavery, with pistols and blood- hounds, has taken the life of the flying fugitive. It has killed its thous- ands, is doing the same every year. It is therefore a system of murder. The other two statements are so self-evident, that none but the fool will deny them. That which will sweep away these outrages, and re- store our brethren in bonds to freedom, and to all their natural rights; is the revival and application of the great ideas of political justice which were developed to a large extent, in the mind of Washington, of the Adamses, of Jefierson, of Franklin, Hancock, Otis and Patrick Henry. Washington speaks for himself in these words : " There is but one proper and efiectual mode by which the abolition of slavery can be accomplished — and that is by legislative action — and this, as far as imj suffrage will go shall never be wanting.'''' Jefferson is on the side of Washington on this subject. He says in words which will live after granite rocks have crumbled to dust: " We hold these truths self-evident, that all men are created equal, — that they are endowed with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, Uberty and the pursuit of happiness " If these sentiments of po- litical Justice were practically developed in law, legislation and relig- ion ; they would free every slave beneath the sun. The same senti- ment was in the mind of Mr. Madison. He said, and the hearts of the people respond to this sentiment to-day, " That it was wrong to admit into the Constitution the idea of proj^erty in man.'''' Mr. Madison saw clearly, that the two ideas, slavery and freedom could not exist togeth- er anywhere without mutual conflict. One must beat and drive out the other. Franklin, though a philosopher, and one of our worthy min- isters to a foreign court, felt the truth and the inspiration of political Justice. He whose title of Nobility was gained by working at the printing press, whose diploma " was written for him by lightning in the clouds," whose patent of aristocracy was inscribed by his own hand on the Declaration of Independence, develops his ideas of political Justice as well as manhood, in the following Anti-slavery memorial presented to Congress in his 84th year. " That you will be pleased to counte- 1 ^ lo continue to be the great national idea in law and legislation ? Shall it continue to make new demands, push itself into every state in the un- ion, and forever beat down the American idea, which affirms that all men have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ? We have gone for party and party prejudices long enough. Let us go for the immediate emancipation of the slave, " trusting in God and keep- ing our powder dry/' Men of the north', are you prepared for this issue ? Before I proceed to the practical question — what shall be done in the present crisis ? — I will state a few facts which grow out of this historical view, and which will close what T have to say on this part of my subject. 1st. It is an indisputable fact of our history, that the American Union was formed with the understanding that the system of slavery then existing in some of the states, should be gradually abolished. 2d. From 1790 to 1820, a period of thirty years, it was the senti- ment of the American people, that freedom should be dominant, and slavery subservient to it. The constitution was considered in favor of freedom, and against slavery. This was the American sentiment, though slavery gained on the idea of freedom, and put it to flight. 3d. From 1820 to 1850, a period of thirty years more, slavery steadily gained upon the American idea. This period gave birth to the doctrine that the constitution recognised slavery as much as free- dom, and that it was as much a national element in politics and leg- islation. 4th. From 1850 to the present hour, there has been no efficient American idea enacted into law by Congress ; but all south and all slavery. The Nebraska bill was introduced and carried through both houses of Congress in hot Iiaste, without the least regard to the senti- ment of the North. It I:)id defiance to the moral feelings of the whole North — treated them as if they were the least of all consequences. There is luit one conclusion to be drawn from these fticts : there can never be another contract, compact, or compromise with slavery by the friends of freedom. All former compromises with the slave pow- er are null and void. Their influence is gone. They were originally conceived in iniquity, and have been brought forth in sin. They have come back upon their authors, but have died in the arms of those who divide the little love of right they have between liberty and slavery, God and Mammon. The power which has done this, knows no High 14 er Law than the Fugitive Slave Law, no duty to the State more imper- ative than slave-catching and kidnapping, no written record of God or man of more authority than the Constitution, — no religion only that which approves of its sins — no God but one who looks with divine ap- probation, upon all the " peculiar institutions " of slavery. 2. I will now attempt to answer the practical question : What shall be done to place our gavernment actively, firmly and perpetually on the side of freedom ? What shall the North do in the present Cri- sis ? A brief statement of a few preliminaries will lead directly to the question. I observe that we ought to understand clearly before we ever again say a word, or do an act in favor of freedom ; that we have been most shamefully deceived by the leading politicians and presses among the Whigs and Democrats, by the cry of Finality, Compro- mise, Constitutions and the impending immediate destruction of the Union. Year after year, " we have been lashed about this miserable circle of occasional arguments and temporary expedients." We have heard discussions deprecated on this subject in political Conventions, by the political and theological Press, in Congress and out of it, by a Northern pro-slavery pulpit ; until our " patience is exhausted, reason is fatigued, and experience has given judgment." We throw them all to the winds. These fictions and falsehoods can deceive no longer. The priest and the politician who have used these falsehoods,knew they were such when they made them; and whoever among them shall now have the impiousness and audacity to repeat them ; shall have them hurled back into their teeth, and my poor abilities shall not be wanting in preserving the "perishing infamy of their names and characters." The next step is, to get rid of two kinds of conservatism: One is ignorant and exclusive, self-satisfied and bigoted. It clings to a dead and corrupting party in the state, and petrified dogmas in the church. It is a stumhling block. It neither has a head nor a heart. It is blind and naked. Like a snake, its life is in its tail, indicating its earthy, sensual character. Let the proud eagle grasp it in his strong claws, and bear it away from the earth with a wild scream of triumph. The other form of conservatism is assumptive, bold and defiant. It claims all the talent, virtue and wisdom of the nation. It pretends to stand nearthe centre of all truths, and mid-way in all extreme opinions. It sneers at the reformer, and finds fault with all he does. It pours con- tempt upon those who believe disobedience to this Law and all other mandates of Slavery, is obedience to God. It lifts up its hands 17 nance to the restoration of liberty to those unhappy men, who alone, in this land of freedom, are degraded into perpetual bondage, and who, amidst the general joy of surrounding freemen, are groaning'in servile bondage, that you will promote mercij and jzistice, to2va7-ds this dis- tressed race, and that you will step to the very verge of the power ves- ted in you for discouraging every species of traffic in the persons of our fellow men^ Such are the ideas of political Justice which ought to be revived in the heart of this nation. They are as old as creation, and yet new as the first dawn of reason. Never did our politics need these ideas as much as now. Without them this nation is prepared for any deeds of inhumanity and injustice ; and New England with all her schools, colleges and churches can still raise up more men like Douglass, Pierce and Cass, who, when tliey get out of New England, can marry whole plantations of negroes, turn back and throttle freedom, then throw it on the ground, and with the iron heel of slavery, crush it into the earth. But let these ideas of justice which were expressed by the Fathers of our Ilepubllc, and by tlie heroes of the revolution, have complete expression in law, in legislation, in all forms of political sci- ence, and slavery will soon be driven out of the nation ; and we shall get rid of its insolence and injustice, its immorality and tyranny. Alexander Hamilton has added his testimony, with other great men named above, in favor of freedom. " All men have one common orig- inal ; they participate in one common nature, and consequently have one common right. No reason can be assigned why one man should ex- ercise any pre-eminence over his fellow creatures, unless they have vol- untarily vested him with it. No man in his senses can hesitate in choosing to be free, rather than a slave." Such are some of the bold words of Washington, Jefierson, Madison, Franklin, and Hamilton. As one of our first orators has said, " these words come pouring down from those heights of patriotism upon our mean politics and shifty statesmanship, like a cataract. '2. W^e want the revival of the religious sentiment in this nation in order to place the government perpetually on the side of Freedom. So sure as God has written His laws in the Bible, and in the con- science ; and are not feared, loved and obeyed by a people ; so sure their true power and glory have departed. Instead of reviving God's paternity, Human Brotherhood, and the duty of helping the weak, we have in years past been taught a commercial, slaveholding Christi- anity, in many of our Churches. This is one reason why Politics has been divorced from Religion, and given over to Satan. For the 18 last 20 years no assertions have been more frequently made than that Re- ligion has nothing to do with Politics, and that ministers have no right to handle political questions in the pulpit — no right to speak in the name of God, whose servants they are, against the dishonesty of men in power, against the corruptions of parties, and the sacrifice of our best men for the base purpose of taking an ignorant, unknown man, and placing him in the highest office of the nation. There never was such miser- able expediency, such sacrifice of principle, as there has been for the last twenty years in American politics. Truth it is, that God and re- ligion have kept out of politics. Base politicians, men seeking office, have ruled more or less in this great domain of human interests. There is to day, in the American Church, a notorious pro-slavery Christiani- ty. Of late, ministers have been awakened to a sense of their duty. Just think, it took that low minded politician, Stephen A. Douglass, to arouse them ! What courage, what magnanimity, to be moved by that contemptible combination in its lowest, most ignoble form ; a northern Douglass with southern principles. Like causes produce like efiects. People are glad to welcome even this sign of life among min- isters. There are warm, fruitful ideas of justice lying warm in the bo- som of the Church. Their growth produces divisions and agitations. Slavery drives faithful men from the pulpit, and fills it with those who quote every writer in the Bible — none oftener than Paul — to support it. The fact is, the absolute religion of Christ has not been a practi- cal, reformatory power in the American Church, considering its wealth, social position, learning and numbers, for the last thirty years. John Adams said during the revolution, " let the pulpit thunder for liber- ty ;" and they did thunder, and the people fought ia the name of God, humanity and religion, and they were successful. Now is the time for the pulpit, if it has men of heart, and the real stuff of manhood, to thunder against slavery, and preach like Luther, and Peter the hermit, the gospel of human liberty. Ministers of all denomina- tions may put forth their declaration of independence, without " let or hindrance." Have they not played "hide and seek" long enough ? Have they not kept down their manhood until they are not recog- nized men, but priests, whose sycophantic tones, pale faces, black coats and white cravats are regarded as synonymous with their theology and piety ? The people stand ready to acknowledge the civil, in- tellectual and spiritual liberty of their ministers, when they have the evidence, that they have the wisdom and the moral courage to 19 maintain it. Every minister in the nation would preach the gos- pel in a direct, personal, specific manner, as all know it ought to he preached. In this way, indoctrinate old and young into its spirit. No more drunken, fighting, atheistic pro-slavery men would be sent to Congress. The north has been disgraced by such men till she is stung to the quick with shnnie. If we have a religion and a pulpit, and a theology, and a church that will not now and forev- er go against slavery in all its forms in this nation, and in all oth- ers — and for the immediate, unconditional emancipation of every slave without contract, compact or compromise — then in the name of God, Christ and man, let us away with our religion, down with the pulpit, give theology to tlie winds, and level the steeple, the towers, and the walls of every church with the ground. In the name of God, let us do this, if the heavens fall over our heads, and the earth swallow us up. If Martin Luther could say, that he would go to the Diet of Worms if there were as many devils as tiles on the roofs ; may we not go for immediate emancipation of every slave, if it annihilates every vestige of the Constitution, and breaks the Union into a thousand fragments. If we cannot have a Union and a Consti- tution without three millions i^nd a half of slaves, let them sink, or be heaved from God's earth, and give Justice, Right and Liberty to our brethren in bonds. I know that some will turn away from me, for these words — their policy is expediency. They who sanction slave- ry, will be seen in a few years, " inventing some miserable tale, in or- der meanly to sneak out of difficulties into which they have proudly strutted." We shall be told in the name of the popular Religion and the Con- stitution, that the men from the North, who voted for the Nebraska Bill, did not legislate slavery into New Territory. But if they did not design this, why disturb a compact, xvhy did they not appeal to the people on this great subject ? These, with a hundred other facts, blow away their insect race of pro-slavery falsehoods. " Thus perish the mis- erable inventions of the wretched supporters of a wretched cause, which they will attempt to fly-blow into every weak and rotten part of the coun- try, in the vain hope that when their maggots have taken wing, their im- portunate buzzing may sound something like the public voice." Let such as vote for Fugitive Slave Laws, Nebraska Bins,[preach obedi- ence to laws made by slaveholders — who in this way deny God and religion — remain in the eye of public contempt ; be held up before the 20 people, that they may see the uuthurs of agitation, disuniou, nullifica- tion and treachery, and thus look at the demagogues they ought not to trust with liberty and law. If the religious sentiment was revived iu this nation, and jjresided over its political actions, such men would be sent to Congress who loved Liberty with all their hearts. Then we should cease to have that dishonest compound — a Northern man with Southern principles — a man who delights to lick Southern dust, and crawl on his belly, and ask if he may do the bidding of slavery ; but to get our honest and best men to Congress, a great work is yet to be done. Not only our churches, but our colleges must be anti-slavery. Yale College took a noble stand against the Nebraska Bill. I suppose it is a fact that a majority of Professors in American Colleges are so conservative, so dead to any warm, practical sense of Liberty, that but little can be hoped from them. Their ideas of dignity keep them away from the great debate among the people. When I hear a grave Professor talk about the dignity of the pulpit, as if it was no place to preach against Slavery and for Freedom, I am reminded, what Edmund Burke said to the British Ministry, when they assumed they could not repeal the law taxing the colonics, because their dignity was at stake ; Burke said : " I know not how it happens, but this dignity of yours is a terrible encumbrance upon you, for it has of late been at war with your interest, your equity, and every idea of your policy !" This is the kind of dignity that encumbers many of our learned Professors. No class of men can quote and appreciate these words so well as they do: " Homo sum : humani nihil a me alienum puto. "* Some day they will not only honor learning, but they will honor men and liberty like Milton, who with all his vast stores of learning, his accurate acquaintance with the literature and language of Greece, Rome, of modern Italy, France and Spain, besides the Hebrew and its two kindred dialects, — feeling a consciousness that he was a Poet for all coming ages ; could leave his studies, think nothing of his dig- nity and write a Defense of the People of England, in their struggle for Liberty. Milton, the wisest one, the most noble of his age, almost blind, could do this ! Ye wise ones, think of him, and do likewise ! In the language of England's noble son, we can say. Liberty " ex- * I am a man, and think there is nothing foreign to me Avhich concerns hu- manity. 21 peets that every niiui will do his duty." When we get houeatuieu in- lo Con«rress, who love the Higher Law and their fellow men in bonds ; we shall have a North — men who will indeed save the Union by put- ting down Southern treason. Men who will smite down the whole de- fence of slavery — leave it without a single vestige of law, justice or right, upon which to stand. They will do it with the hammer of truth, and the sword of the spirit of freedom, 'i'hea instead of sending back a fugitive slave into bondage, a doughface would be given up. If one could not be found worth so much as the slave, two could be given up, or any number. They love office, and have an instinct which is like " the ox which knovi'eth his owner,and the ass his master's crib." The time lias come for action. Let tlie people batter down the whole system of slaver\' by tiie liest and most ethcient means in their power. The conflict is between freedom and slavery. If liberty gets the victory in this conflict, depend upon it ; it will develop and carry along all our great national interests, — such as union, internal improvements, commerce, free labor ; up towards their high- est perfection. Men of the North stand by freedom ! Never give up another fugitive, nor another inch of soil to slavery ! There is latent power in the political ideas of our fathers, there is more power still in the religious ideas of the gospel. Let them be carried into political ac- tion. Now is the seed time, and the harvest. Men of all parties who love liberty and hate slavery, join in battle against the great crime of making slave territory, and selling the bodies and souls of our fellow men! In political action we want: 1, Harmony, 2, Resolution, 3, Untiring Work, Liberty shall triumph ! God speed the day ! 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