' ■■■» iiiiiil: m > /• '^StS- 'li't? » P 5*1^4:^ xo Civ .^ ^C^ T. ■' <-: W^f '' 4K^4KL. 4 'fi^ ■r:""'--ci: «8rti:'« either directly or indirectly, any agency in producing these alarms. But again : the abolitionists call hard Dames that cannot be borne. Now, it is very true, and we all are witnesses how difficult it is to bear their application to ourselves. Yet they ought not to throw off its centre any well-regu- lated mind. If charged falsely, we should most generaHf 35 disregard it, and live down the falsehood. If truly, we should be admonished {fas est ah hosfe doceri) to reform that part of our life which has brought the bad name upon us. Sure it is, however, if the balance be struck between abolitionists and their opposers, the latter will be found to have overpaid them, in an amount so great, and in a coin so pure, and so thoroughly unadulterated with the alloy of moderation, or respect, or restraint, that its repayment must be utterly and forever despaired of. However, to a brief answer to the objection. There were, doubtless, in the days of Paul, a class of men well described as ' men-stealers.' The Meditera- nean, and the smaller seas connected with it, Avere great- ly infested by pirates, an important branch of whose busi- ness was man-stealing. Whenever they were able to overpower a village or settlement, and near the coast, they seized on the inhabitants, reduced them to bonds, and sold them in other lands for slaves. So formidable had they become in the time of Pompey the great, that his eulogist, Cicero, in one of his most labored and eloquent orations, makes it ground of high praise, in recounting Pompey's merits as a commander, that he had conducted to a fortunate conclusion the piratical war. It may have been to such piratical man-stealers that the apostle especi- ally referred. It is true, he does not mention as a class, distinct from the actual kidnappers, those who became the purchasers, and the holders, and users, through life, of their fellow-men thus reduced to bondage. Vv^e are left to con- jecture as to the probability that his bold and honest mind did not discern any real difference, and that he had not penetrated to the prevailing distinction of our more enlightened age, which makes such wide discrimination between the guilt of the original captors and that of the Tery unfortunate gentlemen on whom the 'entail' has 36 MR. birney's letter. fallen. He may have thought as you would, in a case where one of your half-fed negroes breaks into your meat- house at midnight, and after satisfying his present hunger, sells the surplus spoil to an unworthy white neighbor — the latter knowing that the meat ivas stolen. Here, yoU hesi- tate not to stigmatize the purchaser, by the same name you would use in describing the actual rogue, and to as- sign to him, as worthy of it, disgrace and punishment pro- portioned to the elevation of his intelligence above that of the slave. Yet, he was not the thief — he only took, re- tained, and used — and this, in all probality, too, after hav- ing paid for it — property stolen from its rightful owner. But no one would be thought uncharitable under any code of ethics with which I am acquainted, who should, in speaking of the purchaser as connected with this transac- tion, describe him as a thief, or his children as thieves, if they were to permit the stolen property to be ' entailed ' on them, or to use it as their own with a full knowledge of the circumstances under which it was introduced into the family. And for this very simple reason — the moral turpitude contracted is as great in the one case as in the other; the circumstances of their offences differ, but the subject-matter, the substance of them is the same. How- ever ne::essary it may be for the purposes of judicial in.- yesti'Tation to make a distinction in describing the two offences — in moraJs there is none called for ; they are both thieves of the same grade.* Will you not find it difficult on applying the same moral code to the man-stealer and the man-buyer, to arrive at a different conclusion as to their comparative guilt? I wilf .•nercly state the case, leaving you to make the applica« * For the sake of the argument, I have suppoeed tlie slave to have no rigjit o the stolen property. MR. birney's letter. 37 tion. A poor sans culottes heatlien prince, on the coast of Africa — say for instance, ' King Joe Harris,' or ' Lono- Peter,' with some fifty or sixty followers in the same trim with their leige lords, as to their outward man, inflamed with rum, bedazzled by a few beads and trinkets; equip- ped with musket, powder and ball, pike and cutlass, pur- chased by the slaver at a neighboring colony, sets upon his unsuspecting neighbors in the dead of night — kills the old and the resisting; overpowers the weak, and delivers them in chains to their instigator ; Jic, to the civilized, the educated, the enlightened American, who, within the sound of the bell that calls him to hear God's messages of woe — if they were but preached — against the oppressor of his brother — buys, retains, and uses for his own advan- tage, well knowing the manner in which the spoil came into the slaver's hands. Now, tell me, where, in morals, is the difference in amount of guilt? Does the g?^eat£7' lie on the untaught African, or on the refined American I — Shall the heathen be denounced as the man-stealer- — ■ the intermediate agents have heaped on him all the foul names that language can forge, whilst he who consum- mates the whole transaction, without whom the plunder of his fellow-man could not be continued a single year, is looked upon as entitled to cur most delicate regards, our tenderest sympathies ; in fine, as a very unfortunate, yet as a very interesting and christian gentleman ? Is this the judgment according to God's standard 1 I speak as unto wise men— judge ye. A few words more, and I have done. The South say, they will have no argument on the subject of slavery. Why not? Does it not concern them? Do they not un- derstand it ? Have they nothing to lose by a wrong, and nothing to save by a right decision ? Has a dogged sul» lenness beset them — and do they suppose that this will 4 38 MR. birney's letter. arrest the inquisition now making by the people of this nation into this abuse inveterated by two hundred years of disgraceful duration ? Strange resolve ! Strange ex- pectation ! Persisted in, nothing could furnish stronger evidence of that dementation in a community, which, it is said, is the forerunner of its destruction. Already is the subject of slavery infixed on the m'mds o{ ih^ American people. HcBret lethalis arundo — you might as well com- mand the lungs not to inhale the surrounding atmosphere for which nature made them, and by whose inspirations they perform their functions, as the public mind not to welcome a discussion, so well fitted to call forth its ener- gies and engage its noblest powers. Neither Southern legislation, dictated by passion and written in blood — nor yet its most faithful execution — any more than the brick- bats and bludgeons and city mobs of the North, can ex- clude it. A decision will he made — it is with you to make it one of tremendous calamity — to yourselves; or one which shall raise this whole nation from her dishonorable dust, and show her to the world clothed in the garments of love, and honor, and mercy, and truth. Come, then, and like men, sird yourselves for the contest, and let it be one of reason and of mind — not of passion and abuse. On you, especially, devolves the duty of aiding in the inves- tigation. You have an inexhaustible store of facts — you profess, alone, to understand it, and make light of the pre- tensions of others. You cannot escape the guilt of a re- fusal. I invhe you, without cost, to the use of the Phi- lanthropist. Through its columns your voice may be raised, and your arguments carried to the remotest corner of the land. To such of you as are called by the name of Christ, and through you to all others in the South, coming under the same description, I desire affectionately to address the MR. birney's letter. 39 last words of this reply. You are brought, in God's pio- vidence, to a fearful crisis. Never, before, has it been with you as it is now. His light has chased the darkness that for two hundred years brooded over the American mind in relation to the oppression of our brother. The signs of the times give assurance that this sin is to be banished not only from our own country, but from the world. It will be done by human instrumentality. In every great work of reform, on whom does God bestow the honor of beginning it? On his Church. Of whom does he ask sacrifices of love ? Of his Church — of those for whom he has forgiven much. On whom does he call for leaders in his works of righteousness ? On his Church ; on those for whom he gave his Son to die. Whom does he summon to take the first step, though it call for self- denial, and be beset with peril even unto death? His Church — those to whom he said * nothing shall harm you.' Yet you refuse! — you not only i-pfnsp^ hut yon stand in the breach, beating back the friends of righteousness, with the very influence God bestowed on you to be used only in warfare for Him. And what is your excuse ? li ivill ruin the country — immediate righteousness icill desolate the South, and convert its rich fields into heathen deserts. Is this plea true? Has God ever required righteous action from any people and left them to suffer for their obedi- ence? All history says. No. But, admit it to be true, and that you are brought to suffer in your estate, to have your ease broken in upon, and your temporal enjoyments curtailed. What of that? Granted the condition is a bad one. But one, infinitely worse is, to live and to die in the perpetration of a sin, against which God has, more than against any other, uttered his hot displeasure, and to ap- pear with it, unrepented of, at his judgment seat. Will you, can you venture your soul's salvation there, on this 40 MR. birney's letter. plea — that, breaking the bands of slavery which you have fastened on your brother, will injure you in your circum- stances, or that you will be under the necessity of remov- ing, with your families, to some more Northern clime, less genial to your health and habits ? You cannot, as a Christian, you know you dare not — nay, you know it would be better for you at once to surrender your claim of pro- pca'ty in Uhe widows, the fatherless, the stranger, and the poor ' to them, its rightful owners; to abandon your plan- tations, and all the apparatus for their culture, with your crops of cotton, and rice, and sugar, as spoil to your first successors, and fly for a residence to the coldest regions of the North, than die, defying the Almighty in this thing. That the Lord may accompany the foregoing remarks- with his blessing, and make them instrumental in the ad- vancement of his glory on earth — of your best interests, and those of our country, is the earnest desire of your friend Tin(\ fellow-r.itiy.en. JAMES G. BIRNEY. Cincinnati, Dec. 9, 1835. PROTEST OF THE AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. To the President of the United States : Sir, — In your message to Congress of the 7th instant, are the following passages: '1 must also invite your at- tention to the painful excitement produced in the South, by attempts to circulate through the mails, inflammatory appeals, addressed to the passions of the slaves, in prints and in various sorts of publications, calculated to stimulate them to insurrection, and produce all the horrors of a ser- vile war. There is, doubtless, no respectable portion of our countrymen, who can be so far misled as to feel any other sentiment than that of indignant regret, at conduct so destructive of the harmony and peace of the country, and so repugnant to the principles of our national com- pact, and to the dictates of humanity and religion^ You remark, that it is fortunate that the people of the North have ' given so strong and impressive a tone to the senti- ments entertained against the proceedings of the mis-guid- ed persons who have engaged in these unconstituti-snal and wicked attempts.^ And you proceed to suggest to Con- gress, ' the propriety of passing such a law as will pro- hibit, under severe penalties, the circul-ation in the South- ern states, through the mails, of incendiary publications, intended to instigate the slaves to insurrection' A servile insurrection, a^ experience has shown, in- volves the slaughter of the whites, without respect to sex or age. Hence, sir, the purport of the information you 4 42 PliOTEST or THE AMERICAN A. S. SOCIETY. have communicated to Congress, and to the world, is, that there are American citizens who, in violation of the dic- tates of humanity and religion, have engaged in unconsti- tutional and wicked attempts to circulate, through the mails, inflammatory appeals, addressed to the passions of the slaves, and which appeals, as is implied in the object of your proposed law, are intended to stimulate the slaves to indiscriminate massacre. Recent events irresistibly con- fine the application of your remarks to the officers and members of the American Anti-Slavery Society and its auxiliaries. On the 2Sth of March, 1834, the Senate of the United States passed the following resolution : 'Resolved, That the President, in relation to the pub- lic revenue, has assumed upon himself authority and pow- er not conferred by the Constitution and laws, but in der- rogation of both.' On the 5th of the ensuing month, you transmitted to that body your * solemn protest' against their decision. Instructed by your example, we now, sir, in behalf of the Society, of which we are the constituted organs, and in behalf of all who are associated with it, present to you this, our ^ solemn protest' against your grievous and un- founded accusations. Should it be supposed, that in thus addressing you, we are wannng in the respect due to your exalted station, we offer, ih our vindication, your own acknov/ledgment to the Senate : ' Subject only to the restraints of truth and justice, the free people of the United States have the un- doubted right as inditiduals, or collectively, orally, or in writing, at such times and in such language and form as they may think proper, to discuss his (the President's) official conduct, and to express and promulgate their opinions concerning it.' PROTEST OP THE AMERICAN A. S. SOCIETY. 43 In the exercise of this * undoubted right,' we protest against the judgment you have pronounced against the abolitionists. First. Because, in rendering that judgment ofTiciallyj you assumed a power not belonging to your office. You complained, that the resolution censuring your con- duct, ' though adopted by the Senate in its legislative ca- pacity, is, in its effect, and in its characteristics, essenti- ally judicial.'' And thus, sir, although the charges of which we complain were made by you, in your executive capacity, they are, equally v.ith the resolution, essentially judicial. The Senate adjudged that your conduct was un- constitutional. You pass the same judgment on our efforts. Nay, sir, you go farther than the Senate. That body forbore to impeach your motives — but you have as- sumed the prerogatives, not only of a court of law, but of conscience — and pronounce our efforts to be wicked as well as unconstitutional. Secondly. We protest against the puhliciiy you have given to your accusations. You felt it to be a grievance, that the charge against you was ' spread upon the Journal of the Senate, publish- ed to the nation and to the world — made part of our enduring archives, and incorporated in the history of the age. The punishment of removal from office, and future disqualification, does not follow the decision ; but the 7nor- al influence of a solemn declaration by a majority of the Senate, that the accused is guilty of the offence charged upon him, has been as effectually secured as if the like declaration had been made upon an impeachment express- ed in the same terms.' And is it nothing, sir, that we are officially charged by the President of the United States, with wicked and un- constitutional efforts, and with harboring the most execra- 44 PROTEST OF THE AMERICAN A. S. SOCIETY. ble intentions ; and, this too, in a document spread upon the Journals of both Houses of Congress, published to the nation and to the world, made part of our enduring ar- chives, and incorporated in the history of the age? It is true, that although you have given judgment against us, you cannot award execution. We are not, indeed, sub- jected to the penalty of murder ; but need we ask you, sir, what must be the moral influence of your declaration, that we have intended its perpetration 1 Thirdly. We protest against your condemnation of us unheard. What, sir, was your complaint against the Senate? * Without notice, unheard, and untried, I find myself charged, on the records of the Senate, and in a form un- known in our country, with the high crime of violating the laws and Constitution of my country. No notice of the charge was given to the accused, and no opportunity afforded him to respond to the accusation — to meet his accusers face to face — to cross-examine the witnesses — to procure counteracting testimony, or to be heard in his de- fence.' Had you, sir, done to others, as it thus seems you would that others should do to you, no occasion would have been given for this protest. You most truly assert, in relation to the conduct of the Senate, ' It is the policy of our be- nign system of jurisprudence, to secure in all criminal proceedings, and even in the most trivial litigations, a fair, unprejudiced, and impartial trial.' And by what author- ity, sir, do you ejxpect such of your fellow-citizens as are known as abolitionists, from the benefit of this benign sys- tem'? When has a fair, unprejudiced, and impartial trial been accorded to those who dare to maintain that all men are equally entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness 1 What was the trial, sir, which preceded the judgment you have rendered against them ? PROTEST OF THE A3IERICAN A. S. SOCIETY. 4»> Fourilily. We protest against the vagueness of your charges. We cannot more forcibly describe the injustice you have done us, tlian by adopting your own indignant re- monstrance, against what you deemed similar injustice on the part of the Senate, ' Some of the first principles of natural right and enlightened jurisprudence, have been violated in the very form of the resolution. It carefully abstains from averring in which of the late proceedings the President has assumed upon himself authority and power not conferred by the Constitution and laws. Why was not the certainty of the offence, the nature and cause of the accusation, set out in the manner required in the Constitution, before even the humblest individual, for the smallest crime, can be exposed to condemnation ? Such a specification was due to the accused, that he might direct his defence to the real points of attack. A more striking illustration of the soundness and necessity of the rule which forbid vogue and indejinitc generalities, and require a reasonable certainty in all judicial allegations, and a more glaring instance of the violation of these rules, has seldom been exhibited.' It has been reserved for you, sir, to exhibit a still more striking illustration of the importance of these rules, and a still more glaring instance of their violation. You have accused an indefinite number of your fellow-citizens, with- out designation of name or residence, of making uncon- stitutional and wdcked efforts, and of harboring intentions which could be entertained only by the most depraved and abandoned of mankind ; and yet you carefully abstain from averring ichich Article of the Constitution they have trans- gressed ; you omit stating when, where, and by whom these wicked attempts were made ; you give no specifica- tion of the inflammatory appeals, which you assert have 46 PROTEST OF THE AMERICAN A. S. SOCIETY. been addressed to the passions of the slaves. You well know that the ' moral ivfiucnce^ of your charges will affect thousands and tens of thousands of your countrymen, many of them your political friends — some of them here- tofore honored with your confidence — most, if not all of them, of irreproachable characters ; and yet, by the very vagueness of your charges, you incapacitate each one of this multitude from proving his innocence. Fifthly. We protest against your charges, because they are untrue. Surely, sir, the burthen of proof rests upon you. If you possess evidence against us, we are, by your own showing, entitled to ' an opportunity to cross-examine witnesses, to procure counteracting testi- mony, and to be heard in [our'\ defence.' You complain- ed that you had been denied such an opportunity. It was not to have been expected, then, that you would make the conduct of the Senate the model of your own. Conscious of the wrong done to you, and protesting against it, you found yourself compelled to enter on your defence. You have placed us in similar circumstances, and we proceed to follow your example : The substance of your various allegations may be em- bodied in the charge, that we have attempted to circulate^ through the mails, appeals addressed to the passions of the slaves, calculated to stimulate them to insurrection, and with the intention of producing a servile ivar. It is deserving of notice, that the attempt to circulate our papers, is alone charged upon us. It is not pretended that we have put our appeals into the hands of a single slave, or that, in any instance, our endeavors to excite a servile war have been crowned with success. And in what way was our most execrable attempts made? By secret agents, traversing the slave country in disguise, stealing by night into the hut of the slave, and there reading to PROTEST OP THE AMERICAN A. S. SOCIETY. 47 him our inflammatory appeals? You, sir, answer this question by declaring, that we attempted the mighty mis- chief by circulating our appeals ' through the mails ! ' And are the Southern slaves, sir, accustomed to receive periodicals by mail? Of the thousands of publications mailed from the Anti-Slavery Office for the South, did you ever hear, sir, of one solitary paper being addressed to a slave ? Would you know to whom they were directed, consult the Southern newspapers, and you would find them complaining that they were sent to public officers, clergy- men, and other influential citizens. Thus it seems we are incendiaries, who place the torch in the hands of him whose dwellings we would fire ! We are conspiring to excite a servile war, and announce our design to the mas- ters, and commit to their care and disposal the very instru- ments by which we expect to effect our purpose ! It has been said that thirty or forty of our papers were received at the South, directed to free people of color. We cannot deny the assertion, because these papers may have been mailed by others, for the sinister purpose of charging the act upon us. We are, however, ready to make our sever- al affidavits, that not one paper, with our knowledge, or by our authority, has ever been sent to any person in a slave state. The free people of color at the South can ex- ert no influence in behalf of the enslaved; and we have no disposition to excite odium against them, by making them the recipients of our publications. Your proposal that a law should be passed, punishing the circulation, through the mails, of papers intended to ex- cite the slaves to insurrection, necessarily implies that such papers are now circulated; and you expressly and posi- tively assert, that we have attempted to circulate appeals addressed to the passions of the slaves, and calculated to produce all the horrors of a servile war. We trust, sir, 4S PROTEST OF THT^. AMERICAN A, S. SOCIETY. your proposed law, so portentous to the freedom of the press, will not be enacted, till you have furnished Congress with stronger evidence of its necessity than unsupported assertions. We hope you will lay before that body, for its information, the papers to which you refer. This is the more necessary, as the various public journals and meet- sno-s which have denounced us for entertaining^ insurrec- tionary and murderous designs, have in no instance been able to quote from our publications, a single exortation to the slaves to break their fetters, or the expression of a soli- tary wish for a servile war. How far our writings are ' calculated' to produce insur- rection, is a question which will be variously decided ac- cording to the latitude in which it is discussed. When we recollect that the humble school book, the tale of fiction, and the costly annual, have been placed under the ban of Southern editors for trivial allusions to slavery — and that a Southern divine has warned his fellow-citizens of the danger of permitting slaves to be present at the celebration of our national festival, where they might listen to the Dec- laration of Independence, and to eulogiums on liberty — we have little hope that our disquisitions on human rights will be generally deemed safe and innocent, where those rights are habitually violated. Certain writings of one of your predecessors. President Jefferson, would undoubtedly be regarded, in some places, so insurrectionary as to ex- pose to popular violence whoever should presume to circu- late them. As therefore, sir, there is no common standard by which the criminality of opinions respecting slavery can be tested, we acknowledge the foresight Vv^hich prompted you to recommend, that the * severe penalties' of your propos- ed law should be awarded, not according to the character of the publication, but the intention of the writer. Still, PROTEST or THE AMERICAN A. S. SOCIETY. 41) sir, we apprehend that no trivial difficulties will be experi- enced in the application of your law. The writer may be anonymous, or beyond the reach of prosecution, while the porter who deposites the papers in the Post Office, and the mail carrier who transports them, having no evil intentio,ns, cannot be visited with the 'severe penalties;' and thus will your law fail in securing to the South that entire ex- emption from all discussions on the subject of slaverv, which it so vehemently desires. The success of the at- tempt already made to establish a censorship of the press, is not such as to invite farther encroachment on therinht of the people to publish their sentiments. In your protest, you remarked to the Senate, 'The whole executive power being vested in the President, who is responsible for its exercise, it is a necessary consequence that he should hive a right to employ agents of his owji choice, to aid him in the performance of liis duties, and to discharge them when he is no longer ivilling io be kespox- siBLE for their acts. He is equally bound to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, whether they impose duties on the liighest officer of State, or the lowest subor- dinate in any of the departments.' It may not be uninteresting to you, sir, to be informed in what manner your ' Subordinate ' in New York, who, on your ' responsibility ' is exercising the functions of Cen- sor of the American press, discharges the arduous duties of this untried, and until now, unheard of office. We beg leave to assure you, that his task is executed with a simplicity of principle, and celerity of despatch, unknown to any Censor of the press in France or Austria. Your subordinate decides upon the incendiary character of the publications committed to the Post Office, by a glance at the wrappers or bags in which they are contained. Na 5 oO PROTEST OF THE AMERICAN A. S. SOCIETY. packages sent to be mailed from our office, and directed to a slave state, can escape the vigilance of this inspector of canvass and brown paper. Even your own protest, sir, if in an anti-slavery envelope, would be arrested on its progress to the south, as ' inflammatory, incendiary and insurrectionary in the highest degree.' No veto, however, is as yet, imposed on the circulation of publications from any printing office but our own. — Hence, when we desire to send ' appeals ' to the south, all that is necessary is, to insert them in some newspaper that espouses our principles, pay for as many thousand copies as we think proper, and order them to be mailed accord- ing to our instructions. Such, sir, is the worthless protection purchased for the south, by the most unblushing and dangerous usurpation of which any public officer has been guilty since the or- ganization of our federal government. Were the Senate, in reference to your acknowledged responsibility for the conduct of your subordinates, to resolve ' that the Presi- dent in relation to the suppression of certain papers in the New York Post Office, has assum.ed upon himself author- ity and power not conferred by the Constitution and laws, but in derogation of both ; ' instead of protesting against the charge, you would be compelled to acknowledge its truth, and you would plead the necessity of the case in your vindication. The weight to be attached to such a plea, may be learned from the absurdity and inefficacy of the New York Censorship. Be assured, sir, your propos- ed law to punish the intentions of an author, will in its practical operations, prove equally impotent. And now, sir, permit us respectfully to suggest to you, the propriety of ascertaining the real designs of abolition- ists, before your apprehensions of them, lead you to sanc- tion any more trifling with the liberty of the press.— PROTEST OF THE AMERICAN A. S. SOCIETY. 51 You assume it as a fact, that abolitionists are miscreants, who are laboring to effect the massacre of their southern brethren. Are you aware of the extent of the reproach, which such an assumption casts upon the character of your countrymen? In August last, the number of Anti- Slavery Societies known to us, was 263 ; we have noic the names of more than 350 Societies, and accessions are daily made to the multitude wlio embrace our principles. And can you think it possible, sir, that these citizens are deliberately plotting murder, and furnishing us with funds to send publications to the south ' intended to instigate the slaves to insurrection ? ' Is there any thing in the charac- ter and manners of the free states, to warrant the imputa- tion on their citizens of such enormous wickedness? — Have you ever heard, sir, of whole communities in these states, subjecting obnoxious individuals to a mock trial, and then in contempt of law, humanity and religion, de- liberately murdering them? You have seen in the public journals, great rewards offered for the perpetration of hor- rible crimes. We appeal to your candor and ask. Were these rewards offered by abolitionists, or by men whose charges against abolitionists, you have condescended to sanction and disseminate ? And what, sir, is the character of those whom you have in your message held up to the execration of the civilized world? Their enemies being judges, they are rdigious fanatics. And what are the haunts of these plotters of murder ? The pulpit, the bench, the bar, the professor's chair, the hall of legislation, the meeting for prayer, the temple of the Most High. But strange and monstrous as is this conspiracy, still you believe in its existence, and call on Congress to counteract it. Be persuaded, sir, the moral sense of the community is abundantly sufficient to render this conspiracy utterly impotent, the moment its machina- 52 PROTEST OF THE AMERICAN A. S. SOCIETY. tions are exposed. Only PROVE the assertions and in- sinuations in your message, and you dissolve in an instant every Anti-Slavery Society in our land. Think not, sir, that we shall interpose any obstacle to an inquiry into our conduct. We invite, nay, sir, we entreat the appointment by Congress of a committee of investigation, to visit the Anti-Slavery OfRce in New York. They shall be put in possession of copies of all the publications that have issued from our press. Our whole correspondence shall be sub- mitted to their inspection ; our accounts of receipts and expenditures shall be spread before them, and we ourselves Villi cheerfully answer under oath whatever interrogatories ihey may put to us relating to the charges you have ad- vanced. Should such a committee be denied, and should the law you propose, stigmatizing us as felons, be passed without inquiry into the truth of your accusation, and without al- lowing us a hearing, then shall we make the language of your protest our own, and declare that, ' If such proceed- ings shall be approved and sustained by an intelligent peo- ple, then will the great contest with arbitrary power which had established in statutes, in bills of rights, in sacred charters, and in constitutions of government, the right of every citizen to a notice before trial, to a hearing before condemnation, and to an impartial tribunal for deciding on the charge, have been made in VAIN.' Before we conclude, permit us, sir, to offer you the fol- lowing assurances. Our principles, our objects, and our measures, are wholly uncontaminated by considerations of party policy. What- ever may be our respective opinions as citizens, of mea and measures, as abolitionists we have expressed no politi- cal preferences, and are pursuing no party ends. From neither of the gentlemen nominated to succeed you, have PROTEST OF THE AMERICAN A. S. SOCIETT. 53 we any thing to hope or fear ; and to neither of them do we intend, as abolitionists, to afford any aid or influence. This declaration will, it is hoped, satisfy the partizans of the rival candidates, that it is not necessary for them to assail our rights, by way of convincing the south that they do not possess our favor. We have addressed you, sir, on this occasion, with re- publican plainness, and Christian sincerity ; but with no desire to derogate from the respect that is due to you, or wantonly to give you pain. To repel your charges, and to disabuse the public, was a duty we owed to ourselves, to our children, and above all, to the great and holy cause in which we are engaged. That cause we believe is ap- proved by our Maker ; and while we retain this belief, it is our intention, trusting to His direction and protection, to persevere in our endeavors to impress upon the minds and hearts of our countrymen the sinfulness of claiming property in human beings, and the duty and wisdom of immediately relinquishing it. When convinced that our endeavors are wrong, we shall abandon them, but such conviction must be produced by other arguments than vituperation, popular violence, or penal enactments, ARTHUR TAPPAN, WILLIAM JAY, JOHN RANKIN, ABRAHAM L. COX, JOSHUA LEAVITT, SIMEON S. JOCELYN, LEWIS TAPPAN, THEODORE S. WRIGHT, SAMUEL E. CORNISH, ELIZUR WRIGHT, Jr., Executive Committee, New York, Dec. 26, 1835. 5* a- yjx^t \ja ,\ .AyX,A.tAAJ TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, OR, TO SUCH AMERICANS AS VALUE THEIR RIGHTS, AND DARE TO MAINTAIN THEM, J^ellow Countrymen : — A crisis has arrived, in which rights the most important which civil society can acknowledge, and which have been acknowledged by our Constitution and laws, in terms the most explicit which language can afford, are set at naught by men whom your favor has invested with a brief authori- ty. By what st'dudard is your liberty of conscience, of speech, and of the press, now measured? Is it by those glorious charters you have inherited from your fathers, and which your present rulers have called Heaven to witness, they would preserve inviolate"! Alas! another standard has been devised, nnd if we would know what rights are conceded to us by our own servants, we must consult the COMPACT by which the South engages on certain condi- tions to give its trade and voles to northern men. All ricrhts not allowed by this compact, we now hold by suffer- ance, and our Governors and Legislatures avow their read- iness to deprive us of them, whenever in their opinion, leg- islation on the subject shall be ' necessary.' * This com- pact is not indeed published to the world, under the hands and seals of the contracting parties, but it is set forth in *See the Messages of the Governors of New York and Connecncut, the reaohitions of tliR iN'ew Yi)rk Legislature, and the bill iutroduced ialo the Legislature of Khode Island. TO THE PEOPLE OF THE U. STATES. 55 official messages, — in resolutions of the State and Nation- al Legislatures— in the proceedings of popular meetincrs and in acts of lawless violence. The temples of the Al- mighty Iiave been sacked, because the worshippers did not conform their consciences to the compact.* Ministers of the gospel have been dragged as criminals from the altar to the bar, because they taught the people, from the Bible, doctrines proscribed by the compact.! Hundreds of^ free citizens peaceably assembled to express their sentiments, have, because such an expression was forbidden by the compact, been forcibly dispersed, and the chief actor in this invasion on the freedom of speech, instead of beino- punished for a breach of the peace, was rewarded for his fidelity to the compact, with an office of high trust and honor. f 'The freedom of the press — the palladium of liberty,' was once a household proverb. Now, a printing office§ is entered by ruffians, and its types scattered in the highway, because disobedient to the compact. A Grand Jury, sworn to ' present all things truly as they come to their knoNvledge,' refuse to indict the offenders; and a Senator in Conoress rises in his place, and appeals to tlie outrage in the printing office, and the conduct of the Grand Jury as evidence of the good faith with which the people of the State of New York were resolved toobserve the compact.|j The Executive Magistrate of the American Union, un- mindful of his obligation to execute the laws for the equal benefit of his fellow citizens, has sanctioned a censorship * Churches in New York attacked by a mob in 1834. tSee two cases within the last twelve months in New Hampshire. 4: Samuel Beanlsley, Esq., the leader of the Utioa riot, was shortly after- wards appointed Attorney General of the State of New York. 5 Office of the Utica Standard and Democrat newspaper. 11 See speech of the Hon. Silas Wright in the U. S. Senate of Feb. last. 56 TO THE PEOPLE OF THE U. STATES. of the press, by which papers incompatible with the com- pact are excluded from the southern mails, and he has offi- cially advised Congress to do by law, although in violation of the Constitution, what he had himself virtually done al- ready in despite of both. The invitation has indeed been rejected, but by the Senate of the United States only, after a portentous struggle — a struggle which distinctly exhibit- ed the political conditions of the compact, as well as the fidelity with which those conditions are observed by a northern candidate for the Presidency. While in compli- ance with these conditions, a powerful minority in the Sen- ate were forging fetters for the Press, the House of Rep- resentatives were employed in breaking down the right of Petition. On the 26th May last, the following resolution, reported by a committee, was adopted by the House, viz : ' Resolved, That all Petitions, Memorials, Resolutions and Propositions relating in any way, or to any extent whatever to the subject of Slavery, shall, without being either printed or referred, be laid on the table, and that no farther action whatever shall be had thereon.' Ayes, 117. Nays, Cy. Bear with us, fellow countrymen, while we call your at- tention to the outrage on your rights, the contempt of per- sonal obligations and the hardened cruelty involved in this detestable resolution. Condemn us not for the harshness of our language, before you hear our justification. We shall speak only the truth, but we shall speak it as free- men. The right of petition is founded in the very institution of civil government, and has from time immemorial been acknowledged as am.ong the unquestionable privileges of our English ancestors. This right springs from the great truth that government is established for the benefit of the governed, and it forms the medium by which the People TO THE PEOPLE OF THE U. STATES. 57 acquaint their rulers with their wants and their grievances. So accustomed were the Americans to the exercise of this right, even during their subjection to the British Crown, that, on the formation of the Federal Constitution, the Con- vention not conceiving that it could be endangered, made no provision for its security. But in the first Congress that assembled under the new Government, the omission was repaired. It was thought some case might possibly occur, in which this right might prove troublesome to a dominant faction, who would endeavor to stifle it. An amendment was therefore proposed and adopted, by which Congress is restrained from making any law abridging * the right of the people, peaceably to assemble, and to pe- tition the Government for a redress of grievances.' Had it not been for this prudent jealousy of our Fathers, instead of the resolution I have transcribed, we should have had a LAW, visiting with pains and penalties, all who dared to petition the Federal Government, in behalf of the victims of oppression, held in bondage by its authority. The pre- sent resolution cannot indeed consign such petitions to the prison or the scaffold, but it makes the right to petition a congressional boon, to be granted or withheld at pleasure, and in the present case effectually withholds it, by render- ing it nugatory. Petitions are to inform the Government of the wishes of the People, and by calling forth the action of the Legisla- ture, to inform the constituents how far their wishes are respected by their representatives. The information thus mutually given and received is essential to a faithful and enlightened exercise of the right of legislation on the one hand, and of suffrage on the other. But the resolution we are considering, provides that no petition in relation to slavery, shall be printed for the information of the mem- bers, nor referred to a committee to ascertain the truth of 58 TO THE PEOPLE OF THE U. STATES. its statements; nor slial! any vote be taken, in regard to it, by which the people may learn the sentiments of their re- presentatives. If Congress may thus dispose of petitions on one sub- ject, they may make the same disposition of petitions on any and every other subject. Our representatives are bound by oath, not to pass any law abridging the right of petition, but if this resolution is constitutional, they may order eve- ry petition to be delivered to their door-keeper, and by him be committed to the flames; for why preserve petitions on which no action can be had? Had the resolution been di- rected to petitions for an object palpably unconstitutional, it would still have been without excuse. The construction of the Constitution is a matter of opinion, and every citizen has a right to express that opinion in a petition, or other- wise. But tliis usurpation is aggravated by the almost univer- sal admission that Congress does possess the constitutional power to legislate on the subject of slavery in the District of Columbia and the Territories, No wonder that a dis- tinguished statesman refused to sanction the right of the House to pass such a resolution by even voting against it.* The men who perpetrated this outrage had sworn to sup- port the Constitution, and will they hereafter plead at the bar of their Maker, that they had kept their oath, because they had abridged the right of petition by aresoIiftion,and not by law ! This resolution not only violates the rights of the people, but it nullifies the privileges and obligations of their repre- sentatives. It is the undoubted right and duty of every *Mr. J. Q, Adams, on his name being called, refused to vote, saying, « the resolution is in direct violation of the Constitution of the United States, and the privjleoes of the nieinberti of this House.' TO THE PEOPLE OP THE U. STATES. TiO member of Congress to propose any measure witliiti tlie limits of the Constitution, which he believes is required by the interests of his constituents and the welfare of his country. Now, mark the base surrender of this right — the wicked dereliction of this duty. All ' resolutions and propositions ' relating ' in any way or to any extent what- ever to the subject of slavery,' shall be laid on the table, and ^ no farther action whatever shall be had thereon.' — What a spectacle has been presented to the American peo- ple ! — 117 members of Congress relinquishing their own rights, cancelling their own solemn obligations, forcibly depriving the other members of their legislative privileges, abolishing the freedom of debate, contemning the right of petition, and prohibiting present and future legislation on a most important and constitutional subject, by a rule of order ! In 1825, the New York Legislature instructed the rep- resentatives from that state in Congress, to insist on mak- intr ' the prohibition of slavery an indispensable condition of admission ' of certain territories into the Union. In 182S, the Legislature of Pennsylvania instructed the Penn- sylvania members of Congress, to vote for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. In vain, hereafter, shall a representative present the instructions of his con- stituents, or the injunctions of a sovereign state. No question shall be taken, on any motion he may offer, in any way or to any extent, relating to slavery ! Search the annals of legislation, and you will find no precedent for such a profligate act of tyranny, exercised by a majority over their fellow legislators, nor for such an impudent contempt of the rights of the People. But this resolution is no less barbarous than it is profli- gate and impudent. Remember, fellow-countrymen ! that die decree has gone forth, that there shall be no legislation? 60 TO THE PEOPLE OF THE U. STATES. by Congress, in any way or to any extent whatever, on the subject of slavery. Now call to mind, that Congress is the local and only legislature of the District of Columbia, which is placed by the Constitution under its ' exclusive jurisdiction in all cases whatsoever.' In this District, there are thousands of human beings divested of the rights of humanity, and subjected to a negotiable despotism ; and Congress is the only power that can extend the shield of law to protect them from cruelty and abuse : and that shield, it is now resolved, shall not be extended in any way, or to any extent ! But this is not all. The District has become the great slave market of North America, and the port of Alexandria is the Guinea of our proud repub- lic, whence * cargoes of despair ' are contmuaily depart- ing.* In the city which bears the name of the Father of his country, dealers in human flesh receive licences for the vile traffic, at 8400 each per annum ; and the gazettes of the capital have their columns polluted with the advertise- ments of these men, offering cash for children and youth, who, torn from their parents and families, are to wear out their existence on the plantations of the south. t For the safe keeping of these children and youth, till they are shipped for the Mississippi, private pens and prisons are provided, and the United States' Jail used when re- quired. The laws of the District in relation to slaves and free negroes, are of the most abominable and iniquitous character. Any free citizen with a dark skin, may be ♦ One dealer, John Armfield, advertises in the National Intelligencer of the 10*1) of February la.st, that he has three vessels in the trade, and that they will leave the port of Alexandria on the 1st and 15ih of each month. ■f Twelve hundred negroes are thus advertised for in the National Intelli- gencer of the 28th of iMarch last. The negroes wanted are generally from the age of 10 or YZ years to 25, and of both sexes. TO THE PEOPLE OE THE U. STATES. Qi arrested on pretence of being a fugitive slave, and com- mitted to the United States' Prison^ and unless within a certain number of days he proves his freedom, while im- mured within its walls, he is, under authority of Congress, sold as a slave for life. Do you ask why ? Let the blood mantle in your cheeks, while we give you the answer of the LAW — ' to pay his jail fees ' ! ! On the llth of January, 18-27, the Committee for ths District of Columbia, (themselves slaveholders) introduc- ed a bill providincr that the jail fees should hereafter be a county charge. The bill did not pass : and by the late resolution, a statute unparalleled for injustice aiid atrocity by any mandate of European despotism, is to be like the law of the Medes and Persians, that altereth not, since no proposition for its repeal or modification can be enter- tained. The Grand Jury of Alexandria presented the slave-trade of that place, as ' disgraceful to our character as citizens of a free government,' and as * a grievance demanding legislative redress; ' that is, the interposition of Congress — but 117 men have decided that there shall be * no action whatever ' by Conc^ress in relation to slavery. In March, ]S16,Jolui Randolph submitted the following resolution to the House of P^epresentatives : ' Resolved, That a committee be appointed to inquire into the exis- tence of an inhuman and illegal traffic of slaves, carried on in and through the District of Columbia, and to report whether any, and what measures are necessary for putting a stop to the same.' The compact had not then been formed, and the resolution was adopted. Such a resolu- tion would naid ' be laid on the table/ and treated with silent contempt. In 1828, eleven hundred inhabitants of the District pre^ sentcd a petition to Congress, complaining of the * Do- 6 €Q TO THE PEOPLE OF THE U. STATES. MESTic Slave Trade ' as a grievance disgraceful in its character, and * even more demoralizing in its influence,' than the foreign traffic. The petition concluded as fol- lows : ' The people of this District have within themselves 110 means of legislative redress, and we therefore appeal to your Honorable body as the only one vested by the American Constitution with power to relieve us.' No more shall such appeals be made to the national council. What matters it, that the people of the District are annoy- ed by the human shambles opened among them ? What matters it, that Congress is ' the only body vested by the American Constitution with power to relieve ' them? — The compact requires that no action shall be had on ani/ petition relating to slavery. The horse or the ox may be protected in the District, by act of Congress, from the cruelty of its owner ; but MAN, created in the image of God, shall, if his complexion be dark, be abandoned to every outrage. The negro may be bound alive to the stake in front of the capitol, as well as in the streets of St. Louis — his shrieks may resound through the representative hall — and the stench of his burn- ing body may enter the nostrils of the law-givers — but no vote may rebuke the abomination — no law forbid its rep- etition. The representatives of the nation may regulate the traffic in sheep and swine, within the ten miles square; but the SLAVERS of the District may be laden to suffijcation with human cattle — -the horrors of the middle passage may be transcended at the wharves of Alexandria : but Con- gress may not limit the size of the cargoes, or provide for the due feeding and watering the animals composing them ! The District of Columbia is henceforth to be the only spot on the face of the globe, subjected to a civilized and chris- tian police, in which avariae and malice may, with legal TO THE PEOPLE OF THE U. STATES. (>3 impunity inflict on humanity whatever sufferings ingenuity can devise, or depravity desire. The flagitiousness of this resolution is aggravated if possible by the arbitrary means by which its adoption was secured. No representative of the People was permitted to lift up his voice against it — to plead the commands of the Constitution which it violated — his own privileges and duties which it contemned — the rights of his constituents on which it trampled — the claims of justice and humanity which it impiously outraged. Its advocates were afraid and ashamed to discuss it, and forbidding debate, they per- petrated in silence the most atrocious act that has ever disgraced an American Legislature.* And was no reason whatever, it may be asked, assigned for this bold invasion of our rights, this insult to the sym- pathies of our common nature ? Yes — connected with the resolution was a preamble explaining its object. Read it, fellow countrymen, and be equally astonished at the impudence of your rulers in avowing such an object, and at their folly in adopting such an expedient to effect it. The lips of a free people are to be sealed by insult and injury ! ' Whereas, it is extremely important and desirable that the AGITATION on this subject should be finally arrested, for the purpose of restoring trajiquillity to the public mind, your committee respectfully recommend the following res- olution.' Order reigns in Warsmc, were the terms in which the tiiumph of Russia over the liberties of Poland was an- * A debate was allowed on a motion to re-conimil the repoit, for tlie purpose of preparing a resolution iliai Congress lias no constiiuiional pow- er to interfere with slavery in ilie District of Cohi^ibia ; but when tjie sense of the House is to be taken on the resolution reported by the cojn- millee, all debate was prevented by the previous question. 64 TO THE PEOPLE OF THE U. STATES. Hounced to the world. When the right of petition shall be broken down — when no whisper shall be heard in Con- gress in behalf of human rights — when the press shall be muzzled, and the freedom of speech destroyed by gag- laws, then will the slaveholders announce, that tranquillity is restored to the public mind. Fellow countrymen ! is such the tranquillity you desire — is such the heritage you would leave to your children ? Suffer not the present outrage, by eflecting its avowed ob- ject, to invite farther aggressions on your rights. The chairman on the committee boasted that the number of petitioners the present session, for the abolition of slavery in the District, was only 34,000 1 Let us resolve, we be- seech you, that at the next session the number shall be A MILLION. Perhaps our 117 representatives will then abandon in despair their present dangerous and unconstitutional expedient for tranquillizing the public mind. The purpose of this address is not to urge upon you our own views of the selfishness of slavery, and the safety of its immediate abolition ; but to call your attention to the conduct of your rulers. Let no one think for a moment, that because he is not an abolitionist, his liberties are not, and will not be invaded. We have no rights distinct from the rights of the people. Calumny, falsehood, and popu- lar violence, have been employed in vain, to tranquillize abolitionists. It is now proposed to soothe them, by de- spoiling them of their constitutional rights ; but they can- not be despoiled alone. The right of petition and the fre€dom of debate are as sacred and valuable to those who dissent from our opinions, as they are to ourselves. Can the Constitution at the same time secure liberty to you, and expose us to oppression — give you freedom of speech, TO THE PEOPLE OF THE U. STATES. 65 and lock our lips — respect your right of petition, and treat ours with contempt ? No, fellow countrymen ! we must be all free, or all slaves together. We implore you, then, by all the obligations of interest, of patriotism, and of re- ligion — by the remembrance of your fathers — by your love for your children, to unite with us in maintaining our common, and till lately, our unquestioned political rights. We ask you as men to insist that your servants, acting jft the local legislators of the District of Columbia, shall respect the common rights and decencies of humanity. We ask you as freemen, not to permit your constitutional privileges to be trifled with, by those who have sworn to maintain them. We ask you as Christian men, to remem- ber that by sanctioning the sinful acts of your agents, you yourselves assume their guilt. We have no candidate to recommend to your favor — we ask not your support for any political party ; but we do ask you to give your suffrages hereafter only to such men as you have reason to believe will not sacrifice your rights, and their own obligations, and the claims of mercy and the commands of God, to an iniquitous and mercena- ry COMPACT. If v/e cannot have northern Presidents and other officers of the general government, except in ex- change for freedom of conscience, of speech, of the press, and of legislation, then let all the appointments at Wash- ington be given to the South. If slaveholders will not trade with us, unless we consent to be slaves ourselves, then let us leave their money, and their sugar, and their cotton, to perish with them. Fellow countrymen ! we wish, we recommend no action whatever, inconsistent with the laws and constitutions of our country, or the precepts of our common religion, but: 6* 66 TO THE PEOPLE OP THE U. STATES, we beseech you to join with us in resolving, that while we will respect the rights of others, we will at every hazard maintain our own. In behalf of the American Anti-Slavery Society. ARTHUR TAPPAN, WILLIAM JAY, JOHN RANKIN, LEWIS TAPPAN, SIMEON S. JOCELYN, SAMUEL E. CORNISH, JOSHUA LEAVITT, ABRAHAxM L. COX, AMOS A PHELPS, LA ROY SUNDERLAND, THEODORE S. WRIGHT, ELIZUR WRIGHT, Jr., Executive Committee. New York, June, 1836. LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE N. YORK ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. After we had read the following very eloquent epistle, we could not help thinking of that choice proverb of the wise man — ' A word Etiy spoken, is like apples of gold, in pictures of silver.' Utica, August 26th, 133(5. To the Executive Committee of the Ohio State Anti-Slavery Society, at CiiicinnatJ. Dear and Honored Brethren : — Fellow-laborers in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ; and in the cause of his despised and oppressed poor. The shout of your ruthless persecutors has fallen upon our ears; and amid the pauses of the storm, we have been cheered by the calm and firm tones of your own unchanged voice. We hasten to mingle our hearts with yours; to sing, with you, of mercy and of judgment; the mercy that has unmasked a nation's enemies, and shielded your heads,, and guarded your precious lives, when the floods of un- godly men rose up against you : — the justice that has vis- ited upon an oppressive and callous nation, a heavy blow upon her own boasted, but despised liberties. We know we need not occupy our time or yours with lengthened exhortations to courage and patience under your own sufferings. We know you will not think i^t strange concerning the fiery trial that is to try you, as 68 TO THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE though some strange thing had happened unto you. It was in no mere worldly enterprize — it was in no scheme of partizan ambition — it was in no partnership with those who seek their own things and not the things of Jesus Christ and his suffering members, that you banded yourselves to- gether. Of your plundered property — of your own invad- ed domicils — of your own insulted persons — of your own endangered lives — of your own outraged rights — of your own accumulated wrongs — we are persuaded that you have comparatively- thought little. Of these topics we shall, accordingly, say little, in tendering to you our condolence and our sympathies. We mourn, rather^ with you, the infatuation of those, who are aiming, through your vitals, a death-blow to their own, their children's, and their country's freedom. We mourn, with you, the affecting indications, in the midst of us, of that blindness of mind, and that hardness of heart, which constitute the most fearful presages of a nation's downfall. We mourn, with you, the deep wound inflicted, in the house of his professed friends, upon the cause of our common Saviour. We mourn, with you, that those who profess to be his disciples, and claim to be the ministers of his truth, should not only * stand aloof from the * cause of the poor and needy,' should not only count it obedience to Jesus Christ to disregard and despise his little ones, should not only forget that ' inasmuch as they relieve not and suc- cor not the least of these his brethren, they do it not unto him' — but, as though these negligences, for which the great Judge has seen fit to pronounce his anticipated sen- tence of condemnation, were not sufficient for them — as though the quiet acceptancy of the scorner's seat, the menial drudgery of wresting the Scriptures to the support^ oS impurity and heathenism, of robbery and crime, could not suffice to satisfy their greediness — should now think OHIO ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 69 they do God service, when, in defiance of all human and divine laws, combine with the sons of violence, to inflict injuries and outrage upon those who presume to ' show the house of Jacob their sins, and remember them that are in bonds as bound with them.' For things like these, dear brethren, v/ith you, we mourn. Nor can we cease to sigh and cry while such abomina- tions are committed in our land. Yet, while we thus grieve, let us remember that we are permitted to rejoice in the all-pervading and overruling Providence ofthem whose power can bring light out of darkness, and good out of evil. He stilleth the tumult of the sea, and the raging of the people. The wrath of man shall praise him, and the remainder he will restrain. Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing ? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and his anointed, saying, let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their chords from us t He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh ; the Lord shall have them in derision. His king is on his holy hill of Zion. He has declared the decree. The rolling of his chariot is onward. INations may dash themselves, as the potter's vessel, under his wheels — but his march is still onward, till all his enemies are put under his feet. In the certainty of His reign, and in the glory of His triumph, let us rejoice. Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be, but the meek shall inherit the earth, and the upright shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. Let us pause, and ponder, for a moment, the delightful results which, under the good Providence of God, and in accordance with the known and established laws of moral cause and effect, in his moral government, may yet spring from the painful scenes you are now called to witness, and through which you are now called to pass. Let us inquire 70 TO THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE diligently whetlier these results may not include some germ of promise for our guilty but beloved country — whether, along with the sure prospect of ' deliverance to the Captive,' (which the recorded oath and veracity of a God has already rendered secure,) there can be not a bow of hope for an oppressive but repentant nation? If it be the purpose of God to save our nation from de- struction, we well know that it must be rn a way of na* tional penitence and amendment. If the churches in our land, are to escape total apostacy and extinction, we know they must repent, and bring forth fruit meet for repentance. But what hope was there of a cure, so long as the deadly malady was preying upon her vitals, unrevealed ? Or what instrumentality could be better adapted to arouse a sluml)ering people, and convict a self-righteous church, than the a^^tounding and painful developements in your city, within a few weeks, and a few days past? If the people of Ohio and of the Union, are not already past feeling and past hope, if the last vestige of political foresight as well as moral discernment has not ceased from among them— they must now see what it has hitherto been so difficult to show them — that there is no possible alterna- tive between the enfranchisement of the slave and subju- gation of xhefree — that the common Father of all men never intended the liberties of a portion of his equal chil- dren should long be preserved, while they neglected to claim the equal liberties of their brethren ; that the move- ments of his providence render such an arrangement im- possible — that the changeless constitution of human na- ture, renders the very supposition an absurdity ! The voice of the slaveholders, through their associates in your city, lias abundantly proclaimed that slavery canvot stand, except it be upon the ruins of the free press. And with equal distinctness and solemnity, has the voice of the non- OHIO ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 71 slaveholding aristocracy been heard to decree, that the free press of the non-slaveholding states must fall ! At their bidding, nay, with the violence of their hands the free press has fallen ! The press that re?nains, has regis- tered its own confession that it is not free, and DARES NOT ' ADVENTURE an opinion ' amidst ' the actors ' ef that scene.* Yes ! In the face of Europe and of the world, it has been recorded that freedom of the press, in the commercial metropolis of one of the free states of America has already passed away, and is known only in the history of the things that have been ; the thinfrs that may or may not hereafter, again be ! Is there not reason, dear brethren, to hope, that the thunder tones of an annunciation like this, may suffice to rouse freemen from their slumbers, and freedom from its grave 1 Depend upon it, dear brethren, the spell of apathy and the delusion of confiding credulity, on the minds of many, many thousands, has been suddenly and irrevocably broken. Whatever of scepticism there inai/ have been, a month or two aero, in respect to the SETTLED LEAGUE between the M'Duffies of the south, and their aristocratic ' breth- ren of the north,' to crucify the freedom of the free, in or- der to secure the continued slavery of the slave — there will nothing of such a scepticism remain among the intelligent readers of the passing news now. To the ' imprudent and reckless' aristocracy of Cincinnati has been reserved the task of certifying, over their own signatures, the truth of this oft reiterated, but seemingly incredible charge. Nor have they failed to state, in terms too plain to need eluci- dation, too explicit to permit evasion, that in the prosecu- * Cincinnati Daily Gazette. 72 TO THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE tion of their plans they aim at REVOLUTION ; they trample the Constitution under foot, they bid defiance to the sovereign people and their laws! The issue is now fairly made up. It is understood by all. It is the consti- tution, order, law, and liberty for all x\mericans. on the one hand : — It is revolution, anarchy, mobocracy, and the sla- very of the American people, on the other. There is no room for neutrality. There is no possibility of mistake. There is no way of escape. There is no middle ground. There is no alternative. If the nation is to be saved, it must be saved by exertions which nothing but a crisis like the present, could have called forth ; by discoveries which nothing short of the scenes of Cincinnati could have re- vealed. Be assured, dear brethren, no occurrences have hitherto taken place (not even in our own city, where the violence of our enemies has most gloriously strengthened us) so di- rectly calculated to convince the hardy yeomanry of cen- tral New York, and we may add, of the middle and eastern states, that their own interests and liberties are identified with those of the slave — that American freedom is no long- er a question of geography or of coloj- — that AMERICANS MUST BECOME ABOLITIONISTS OR SLAVES, as the occurrences of the last few days in Cincinnati indi- cate. Previous occurrences had given them reason to sus- pect it. Now, they see, they feel, they understand, they know it. They have now stood by, while freedom has not only been threatened, but prostrated — while the aristocra- cy have not only abetted, but consummated the deed, in open daylight with their own hands. The husbandman has rested upon his scythe— the mechanic has let fall the implement of his honest toil, to listen to the story. By thousands and scores of thousands will they now come up •OHIO ANTI-SLAVERY SOClIiTY. 73 to the rescue, in whose ears the warning words of aboli- tionists have heretofore been an idle tale. Permit us to add that the well known cliaracter of the press and editor, that in this instance have fallen under the prescriptive ban, the universal meed of approbation, for candor, courtesy, and kindness, that has been awarded them from all parties — from opponents as well as friends, enhances in no small degree, the moral force and virtue of the demonstration that has now been made. Nothing else could so completely have dissipated the illusion hitherto- fore floating before the vision of so many well disposed and intelligent, but misinformed men, that it must have been owing to some undue asperity of manner, some lack of sound judgment or discretion, some want of christian pru- dence and circumspection, on the part of those who plead for the inalienable rights of man, that they have been so often and so violently assailed, and that, too, by persons professing godliness. Henceforth, the true secret of all the ruffian-like commotion that has disturbed the nation cannot fail to be understood. It will be traced to its prop- er parent — slavery ! It will be seen that there is no mild- ness, or gentleness, or wisdom, that can effectually remove this monster of iniquity, without rousing all the bitterness and rage of the pit. Above all — this last act has wound up the drama — it has matured the crisis. The half-heeded prophecy of yes- terday, has become history. A FREE STATE HAS FALLEN BEFOPvE THE JUGGERNAUT OF SLA- VERY ! ! ! Ohio is despoiled of her glory ! The star of her liberty is trampled in the mire. The Constitution is trodden down in her own streets. Her statutes are given to the winds. Her citizens hold their possessions, and ex- ist, and speak, at the mercy and at the discretion of their SELF-MADE DICTATORS'. A crisis like this, must and will 7 74 TO THE IXECUTIVfi COMMITTEE OF THB be a decisive one. It must prove the grave or the cradfe of freedom. Its parallel is not found in the history of our republic. The citizens of Ohio will say — and cannot avoid saying — whether they will swear fealty to their conquerors, or whether they will burst their fetters. On one side or on the other of this question, they must sTpe^k. Their silence, if they remain silent — icill speak, and speak the requiem of their liberties ! But silent they cannot be ! You see, then, dear brethren, the high vantage ground upon which your enemies have placed you ! You occupy a position which will be defended by every citizen of Ohio, who does not consent, himself, to become a slave! From this position you cannot be driven, but by the blow that shall drive every free citizen of Ohio along with you. Your right to plead, in Ohio, for the slave, (and on any portion of her soil you shall choose) is a right which, as a matter of fact, is now found to stand or fall, with the right of eve- ry citizen of Ohio to his own freedom I On a vantage ground like this, dear brethren, we are persuaded you will not think of laying down your arms. We should wrong you by the implication that you could ever consent to do this, on any ground within the universe of God. Let us rather say, that on a ground like this, you should hasten to enlarge your borders, and strengthen your stakes. A widening field, and a glorious campaign, we doubt not, dear brethren, is before you. A post of distin- guished prominence and dignity, as well as peril, is assign- ed to you. The fate of this nation — the destiny ofposter- fty — the freedom of unborn millions — the fair fame of America — the hopes of a suffering world — are committed to your trust. The soil you occupy seems marked out by the God of the oppressed, as the last, final Thermopylae of holy freedom upon the earth. The glorious Emancipator of his church and of the world, has seen fit to place you in OHIO ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 75 the fore front of the battle. Your brethren in tribulation are looking anxiously towards you. Tlieir prayers on your behalf, ascend, day and night, before the Deliverer OF THE NEEDY. The cyes of the world are upon you. A mighty cloud of unseen witnesses are hovering near you. The chosen representatives and brethren of your risen Sa- viour — 'hungry' for the bread of eternal life — 'athirst' for the living fountains of freedom — ' sick ' with the agonies of ' hope deferred ' — and imprisoned by the fetters of oppres- sion — stretch out, in silence, their imploring hands to- wards you. And look! that motto on your banner — 'In- asmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these, my breth- ren, ye did it unto me ' ! And, hark! that watchword — ' To him that overcometh — ' ! Onward, then ! — Onward! To the rescue! Quit yourselves like men, and be strong. Put on the whole armor of God, and quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. For Zion's sake, hold not your peace ! and for Jerusalem's sake, rest not, until the RIGHTE- OUSNESS thereof go forth as brightness— and the EMAN- CIPATION thereof as a lamp that burneth. ALVAN STEWART, Chairman Ex. Com. N. Y. A. S. S. Charles Stuart, Wm. Goodell, Jacob Snyder, J. C. DeLong, Beriah Green, Reuben Hough, Oliver Wetmore, Amos Savage, Samuel Lightbodv, Gerrit Smith. OUTRAGE UPON SOUTHERN RIGHTS. [From the Augusta (Georgia) Sentinel.] We furnish our readers this morning with a decision which gives an entire new feature to the slave question. It has just been decided by the Supreme Court of Massa- chusetts, that a Slave carried into that State by his owner, becomes eo instanti free ! What think you of that, peo- ple of the South? If a southerner carries a servant or a nurse with him into the State of Massachusetts, the high- est judicial tribunal of that State is ready with its writs and processes to wrest that servant from him, and pro- nounce him a freeman before his face ! And then, as If to add the grossest insult to the deepest injury, we are told that this decision is no interference with the rights of the slaveholder, but that rather, the carrying of a slave into a State which does not tolerate slavery, is an interference with the laws of that State I People of the South ! Will you sleep forever over your dearest rights ? Are you will- ing to sustain forever a confederation with States into which you dare not travel with your property, lest that property becomes by law actually confiscated ? Of what value to you is a union which enables those who are in common with yourself, members of that union, to destroy the right of private property, and deprive you of that which is justly yours ? This is the strongest and boldest step ever yet taken acrainst the rights of the South, and leaves the puny efforts of the abolitionists at an immeasurable distance in the OUTRAGE UPON SOFTIIERX RIGHTS. 77 rear. The abolitionists themselves have thus far asked but little more than the liberty of publishing and distrib- uting what they please on the subject of slavery, (bad enough in all conscience,) but here is a high and power- ful court, which sets our negroes free as soon as they can get within its reach. Shall we submit to this ? Has it not been enough that wc have borne for years with a pa- tience almost amounting to servility, the exactions of the tariff for the benefit of the North? Is it not enouorh that the coffers of the general government have been filled by southern earnings, to be lavished on those States in the way of appropriations ? And must we now submit to have our property taken from us by courts and juries, and be insultingly told such things are no interference beyond our rights ? [From the Boston Courier.] The above article, Mr. Editor, is copied from the Au- gusta (Georgia) Sentinel. Let the freemen of the North read it, and judge how long they ought to submit to such bullying. This is the legitimate fruit of the abject cring- ing with which they have received the threats ofthesouth-^ em slaveholders ever since the organization of our govern-^ ment. We suffered ourselves to be frightened out of our rights, by that scare-crow nulliji cation, and now we are to have the same bug-bear or that other, dissolution of the union, whenever we dare to speak or think for ourselves. Let us throw off this spirit, and meet them face to face on their own ground. Of what have they to complain in the late decision of our Supreme Court ? And of what have we not to complain in their course of conduct to us ? We would ask this writer, by what authority he would dare to bring into this State ' a servant or a nurse,' bearing all the outward marks of being a man, a/ree man, and claim to use him as cattle, in the very presence of the majesty of 78 OUTRAGE UPON SOUTHERN RIGHTS. our laws, which declare that no man can be here held as a slave ? What interference is it with the rights of a slaveholder to tell him what he knew before, that we do not tolerate slavery within our borders ? Talk of sleeping over your dearest rights ! Have you no right that is dear- er to you, have you none that you value more than the privilege of obliging a fellow-man to work for you? Is the very dearest right of the magnanimous South, so inti- mately connected with the love of dollars and cents, with which they reproach the North — the right to have their Jands cultivated a little more cheaply than they would oth- erwise — the right to steal the labor of the slave without paying for it? Admit that our Court was wrong in com- pelling that man to give up his slave ; how much does it wrong him ? — it does not insult, it does not injure his per- son ; it merely renders his wealth something less ; it only diminishes his property. Look, on the contrary, to south- ern justice as exhibited towards the North. If a merchant of Boston should send out in his vessel a black man to the South, the moment that he arrives on their shores, he is seized and imprisoned, and so kept until the departure of the vessel. This involves only the loss of the services of Jhis servant, perhaps the most important agent on board of the vessel, to the merchant, but what right is there of the servant that it does not interfere with ? It takes away his liberty ; it makes a freeman, valuing his freedom as much as the most chivalrous and magnanimous southerner of them all, a slave. It refuses him the right of trial by jury guaranteed to him by the constitution of the United States. Nay, more ; it is declaring war upon the State to which he belongs ; for by the constitution of the United States, the citizens of each State have a title to all their privileges in every other State ; it is nullification itself. How small jdoes this pretended outrage on Southern rights appear, OUTRAGE UPON SOUTHERN RIGHTS. 79 when compared with this manifest outrage on Northern rights ! And even this, bad as it appears, is not the great- est extent to which they go. If a black man is found in some of the slaveholding States, let him have been ever so free at home, he is imprisoned until he can prove him- self a freeman ; and if it takes a long time to do this, to prove this negative, he is sold to pay the expenses of his confinement. Thus to be free is a crime. Language has not power to express the abhorrence, every son of the North, be he black or white, ought to feel at this insult and outrage. And yet the same men who can be coolly guilty of these crimes, crimes which between nations and states, entirely independent of each other, would be just and righteous causes of war to extermination, prate of their ' patience almost amounting to servility,' and their long suffering endurance exercised towards the North. Freemen of the North, throw back to them the insulting question. Are we willing forever to sustain a confedera- tion with states, into which our free citizens dare not travel, for fear, not of losing property merely, but liberty itself? Of what value to us is a union which enables those who are, in common with ourselves, members of that union, to destroy not only the right of private property, but of freedom ? Put to them these questions. Do you desire a dissolution of the union ? Suppose we grasp at it with joy, and become nations entirely independent of each other. Now what would be the consequence, if you. should pursue your present course ? Would you then dare to imprison an innocent citizen of the North without trial t to sell him for a slave to pay his jail expenses ? Would you dare to insult, to scourge, to murder our free citizens travelling within your borders, merely because you suspect- ed them of holding opinions different from your own, as you have repeatedly done within a few years past? No, 80 OUTRAGE UPON SOUTHERN RIGHTS. you would not dare, unless you were prepared to make war at once. It would need the tears and blood of the whole South to atone for one single instance of these ag- gressions. Common causes for war sink into insignificance compared with these. Weigh well, then, the consequences, before you demand a dissolution. Who would shield you from massacre by your slaves or the Indians ? Who would protect you from foreign aggression or internal dissension*? From whom would you receive the numberless benefits for which you are now indebted to the North ? We forbear to press the subject further. Reflect, before you demand a dissolution of the Union, that you have almost every thing, we have almost nothing, to lose. Do not cry too loud, lest you should be heard and answered as you do not expect. Remember the maxim, 'Never spur a willing horse.' COLLECTION OF VALUABLE DOCUMENTS, BEING EIRNEt's vindication of abolitionists — PROTEST OF THE AMERICAN A. S. SOCIETY TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, OR, TO SUCH AMERICANS AS VALUE THEIR RIGHTS LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE N. Y. A. S. SOCIETY, TO THE EXEC. COM. OF THE OHIO STATE A. S. S. AT CINCINNATI OUT- RAGE UPON SOUTH- ERN RIGHTS. BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY ISAAC KNAPP, 46, WASHINGTON STREET. 1836. J DISCUSSION, SECOND EDITION. JUST PUBLISHED, in a handsome 8vo. pamphlet, of 9G pages, price 37 1-2 cents. For sale at No- 4(i, VVashingtun Street, (3cl story) Boston, a REPORT OF THE FIVE NlGHTb' DISCUSSION on the subject of American SJavery in general, and tlie state of the American Churches in partic- ular, between George Thompson, Esq. and Rev. R. J. Breck- inridge of Baitimore, Md. Piolden in Rev. Dr. Wardiaw's Chapel, Glasgow, Scotland, June, 1836. Dr. Wardlaw in the Chair. One of tue ' Conditions ' proposed by Mr. Breckinridge was as follows: ' But as my vvbolc object is lo gel before the British churches certain views and sugges^iions on this buhject, whicii 1 fiinily believe are iiidis- peiisal>le, to pievent the loial abeiiatiou ot Brilisii and American chris- liaiis troin each other j 1 shall not consider it necessary to cojnmence the discus-iion at all, unless such arrangements are previously made, as will secure ilie publication, iu a cheap and permanent form^ oi all that is said and done on liie occasion,' Q;;/^ The speeches and documents in this pamphlet having been submitted to the correction of the speakers, the report may be relied on as an accurate and full account of the impor- tant proceedings. Dec. 25, I83G. SONGS OF THE FREE. OR SALE at the Anti-Slavery Office, 4G, Washington Street, — ' Songs of the Free, and Hymns of Christian Freedom.'' ' Suited to such as visit at the shrine of serious Liberty.' — Percival. — pp. 228. Price 50 cents. (]r5^ This work was prepared with particular reference to the Monlhly Concert of Prayer for the Slaves, and will be found well suited for use at all anti-slavery meetings, of which sing- ing constitiites part of the exercises. It contains 119 hymns, proper fur devotional exercises, beside an excellent selection of poetry, from writers of our own and past times, calculated to awaken a love of liberty, and excite sympathy for the injured and oppressed. Notes to illustrate and enforce the sentiments of the poetry, are interspersed through the volume. Dec. 25, 183 1). RECEPTION OF GEORGE THOMPSON IN GREAT BRITAIN. COMPILED from various British publications. Introduc- tion by C. C. Burleigh. 18mo. pp. 242— handsomely bound and lettered. Price 37 1-2 cents. Boston, Dec. 25, 1836. >2>:3S>- 2> .3»Sh-. ^"i5^: >>^ ;^> -^i:^ . i>2p ^ i>> 1^ :i>ra ^g3^ ^^'^^^'^^ : .^^W- >^ . >^^> ) i-y) \&'^ Ji> ■ . ^ ' >>J >r.0 3-.S» ii ^ j>j», ^> j>>^^ j»>'>» ^"S^ :3^j» D^^:>i> 1 ^^^.-3PS>; %33 m' LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 01 1 899 064 A ^ f