IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 4.- f/j 1.0 iiUM 1^5 I.I 1.8 ui IM 1.25 U il.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation 73 WEST MAIN STRUT WHSTIR.N Y )4SI0 (716) I72-4S03 ^■^ q^ '^ % S>^^ ..^V # "^ U.J. CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. // CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de mic.oreproductions historiquas IV :^ Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in t( (moaning "CON- TINUED"), or tha symbol ▼ (moaning "EfiO"), whichavar appliaa. Mapa, platas. charts, ate, may ba filmad at diffarant raduction ratioa. Thoaa too larga to ba antlraly includad in ona axpoaurs ara filmad baginning in tha uppar laft hand eomar, laft to right and top to bottom, aa many framaa aa raquirad. Tha following diagrama illustrata tha mathod: L'axamplaira filmA fut raproduit grdca A la ginArositi da: L^islature du Quebec Quebec Laa imagaa suivantaa ont «t« raproduitaa avac la plua grand soin, eompta tanu da la condition at da la nattat* da l'axamplaira film4. at w conformity avac laa conditions du eontrat da rilmaga. Laa axamplaieaa originaux dont la couvartura 9n papiar att imprim^a sont filmte w commandant par la pramiar plat at an tarminant soit par la darniira paga qui comporta una amprainta d'impraaaion ou d'illustration, soit par la sacond plat, salon la caa. Tous laa autras axampiairas originaux sont filmte sn commcsncant par la pramiAra paga qui comporta una amprainta dimpraasion ou d'lllustration at w. tarminant par la darni^ra paga qui comporta una taila amprainta. Un daa yymboiaa suivants apparaitra sur la dami4ra imaga da chaqua microficha. salon la caa: la symbols — ^signifia "A SUIVRE". la symbols V signifia "FIN". Laa cartaa, planchaa, tablaaux. ate. pauvant Atra filmia i daa taux da reduction diff«rants. Lorsqua la documant ast trop grand pour 4tra raproduit 9n un saul clichA, 11 sat film* k partir do I'angia sup4riaur gaucha. da gaucha h droita, at da haut an baa. an pranant la nombra d'Imagas n^cassaira. Las diagrammas suivants illustrant la m^thoda. 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 aa J \- e THE \ ANTI-SLAVERY ENTERPRISE, ITS NECESSITY, PUACTICABILITY, AND DIGNITY. WITH GLIMPSES 08 THE SPECIAL DUTIES OP THE NOETH. LECTURE OP THE HONOURABLE CHARLES SUMNER, OF BOSTON, UNITED STATES, LITERALLY KEFORTED IN THE "NEW YORK TRIBUNE," OF THE 18TH OF MAY, 1855. 1855. W. M. WATTS, CROWN COURT, TEMPLE BAR. Thi suitabi the occ "Ml Historj men as ment, e martyr stone tl Thus it "On our cou just the small c were int a feeble very Soi obscure by a fra property and vile — know originati lessly te halter a1 last, g-ui unofFenc tion agf} Even vij outrag-e ; Ij tica, W' New Yo] and mad next urg ANTI-SLAVE.IY ENTERPRISE, The Honourable Charles Sumner, after havine* been suitably introduced to the audience by the Chairman chofen for the occasion, rose and said :~ "Mr. President and Fellow-Citizens op New York— History abounds m vicissitudes. From weakness and humiUtv, men ascend to power and place. From defeat and disparag-e- ment, enterpnses are lifted to triumph and acceptance. The martyr of to-day IS gratefuily enshrined on the morrow. The atone that the builders rejected is made the head of the corner. un ^^^^y^ ^^^ ^^6»> and ever will be. Only twenty years a^o-in 7.835— the friends of the slave in pur country were weak and humble, while their great enterprise, just then shewing- itself, was trampled down and despised. The small compames, gathered together in the name of freedom, were interrupted, and often dispersed by riotous mobs. At Boston a teeble association of women, called ' The Female Anti-Sla- very bociety> convened in a small room of an upper story in an obscure building, was insulted, and then driven into the streets by a frantic crowd, politely termed, at the time, ' gentlemen of property and standing,' which, after various deeds of violence and vileness, next directed itself upon William Lloyd Garrison —known as the determined Editor of the Liberator, and the ongmator of the anti-slavery enterprise in our day— and ruth- lessly teanng him away, amidst savage threats, and with a halter about his neck, dragged him through the streets, until, at kst guilty only of loving liberty, if not wisely, too well, this unoHendmg citizen was thrust into the common jail, for protec- ^on against an infiiriate populace. Nor was Boston alone. iJ-ven villages in remote rural sohtude belched forth in similar outrage • while the large towns, like Providence, New Haven, Ltica, Worcester, Alton, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and i^ew lork, became so many hery craters, overflowing withrajre and madness What lawless violence failed to accomplish wis next urged through the forms of law. By solemn legislative Acts, the Slave States called on the Free States ' promptly and effectually to suppress aU associations within their respective limits purporting to be Abolition Societies;' and Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New York, basely hearkened to the base proposition The press, too, with untold power, exerted Itself m this behalf, while the pulpit, the politician, and the merchant, conspired to stifle discussion, until the voice of free- dom was hushed to a whispjr, ^alas! almost afraid to know itself. " Since then- in the lapse of a few years only,— a chang-ehas taken place. Instead of these small companies counted by tens we have now this mig-hty assembly, counted by thousands ; in- stead of an insignificant apartment, hke that in 'Boston, the mere appendage of a printing--oftice, where, as in the manger itself, truth was cradled, we have now this metropolitan hall, ample m proportions and central in place; instead of a profane and clamorous mob, beating at our gates, dispersing our assembly, and making one of our number the victim of its fury, we have now peace and harmony at unguarded doors, ruffled only by a generous competition to participate in this occasion ; while legis- latures openly declare their sympathies; villages, towns, and cities, vie m the new manifestation ; and the press itself, with increased power, heralds, applauds, and extends the prevailing influence, which, overflowing from every fountain, and pouring through everv channel, at last, by the awakened voice of pulpit, pohtician, and merchant, swells into an irrepressible cry. "Here is a great change, worthy of notice and memory, for It attests the first stage of victory. Slavery, in all its many- sided wrongs, still continues ; but here, in this metropohs-aye, feir, and throughout the whole North -freedom of discussion is at lenjrth secured : And this, I say, is the first stage of victory —herald of the transcendent future. * Hark ! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers ; Prepare the way ! a God, a God appears ! A God ! a God ! the vocal hills reply, The rocks proclaim th' approaching Deity.' " Nor is there any thing peculiar in the trials to which our cause has been exposed. Thus in all ages has truth been encountered. At first persecuted, gagged, silenced, crucified, she has cried out from the pnson, from the torture, from the stake, from the cross, until at last her voice has been heard. And when that voice IS really heard, whether in martyr cries, or in the earthquake tones of civil convulsion, or in the calmness of ordinary speech, such as I now employ, or in that still small utterance inaudible to the common ear, then is the beginning of victory. ' Give me where - \ t 1 £ t a I t £ ^kfno^mTrfth'l"^^^^^^^^ Archimedes, and Truth asks no more than did the master of g-eometry. Viewed in this aspect, the present occasion rises above anv ordinary course of lectures or series of poHtical mSnls Itl the inauguration of freedom. From this time forward to voice of warning and comment cannot be silenced. The sensitive rS^Sn •^'' '^ P^P''*^ "^'"^^ i^ *^« commercial mart"a^]2 nr ?5l 'IP.'T'*^ "^ "^^^ ; the watchful press itself may Sr cantt'be lL^or.v^^■^^^^ of free discussion nowac^hieved cannot be lest. On this I take my stand, and, as from the mount before mi^^Tf *^^ ^^''' ""''^ ^^^"^ ^eat 'controTei^y spread argument, touching the question between Slaveiy and Freedom, which IS not now open. Of all these I mi^ht nerhans 3 select one, and coniine myself to its developSt. ^ fe not, in this way, best satisfy the seeming requirements of the occasion. According to the invitation o? your ComSee I was to make an address introductory to the present course 'of lectures, but was prevented by ill hellth. Anln^w^at the do^^^^ of the course, I am to say what I failed to say at its beginning Not as caucus or as Congress can I address you ; nfr am^f moved to midertake a poUtical harangue or constitutional ar^. ^a-'a ^,"*«^ the occasion lei me speak, and, discarding any mdividual topic, aim to review the entire field in all its division and subdivisions, with all its metes and bounds "^^^^^ona Dignity of the Anti-slavery Enterpbise, with glimpses AT THE Special Duties of th3 North. By this Enterprise I do not mean the efforts of any restricted circle, sectT^r^parV, but the cause of the slave,m allitsforms and deiees, and under all Its names; whether inspired by the pulpitf the press the economist, or the poUtician ; whether in the early Sstent r..w ? ?f ' "f *^^ '*'!''^^^ constitutional endeavours of others now actually sharing the puWic councils of the country To prry through this review, under its different heads, I shdl not hesitate to meet the objections which have been urged against this Enterprise, so far, at least, as I am aware of them. And now as 1 address vou seriously, I venture to ask your serious attentmn even to the end. IS ot easily can a public address reach that highest completeness which is found in mingling the useful midtheac^reeable; but I desire to say, that, iS thts arrange- Jffi fT . ^?-f '^l''^*'^'' ^^ '"-7 ^^"^^^k« to-night, I seek to cul- tivate that highest courtesy of a speaker which is found in clear- ness* 6 " I. I begin with the necessity of the Anti- Slavery Enter- prise. In the wrong of Slavery, as defined by existing law, this necessity is plainly apparent ; nor can any man within the sound of my voice, who listens to the authentic words of the law, hesitate in my conclusion. A wrong* so g-rievous and un- questionable should not be allowed to continue. For the honour of human nature, and for the ^ood of all concerned, it should at once cease to exist. On this simple statement, as a corner-stone, I found the necessity of the Anti-slavery Enterprise. " I do not dwell, Sir, on the many tales which come from the house of bondage ; on the bitter sorrows there undergone ; on the flesh galled by the manacle or spirting blood beneath the lash ; on the human form mutilated by the knife, or seared by red-hot iron ; on the ferocious scent ot blood-hounds in chase of human prey ; on the sale of fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, little children— even infants— at the auction-block ; on the practical prostration of all rights, all ties, and even all hope ; on the deadly injury to morals in substituting concubinage for marriage, and changing the whole land of Slavery into a by-word of shame, only fitly pictured by the lan- jruage of Dante, when he called his own aegraded country a Kouse of 111 Fame ; and, last of all, on the pernicious influence upon the master as well as the slave, shewing itself too often, even by his own confession, in rudeness of manners and character, and especially in that blindness which renders him insensible to the wrong he upholds, while he, * so perfect is his misery, Not once perceives his foul disfigurement, But boasts himself more comely than before.* On these things I do not dwell, although volumes are at hand of unquestionable facts and of illustrative story, so just and happy as to vie with fact, out of which I might draw, until, hke Mac- beth, you had supped full of horrors. " But all these 1 put aside ; not because I do not regard them of moment in exhibiting the true character of Slavery, but be- cause I desire to present this argument on grounds above all controversy, impeachment, or suspicion, even from slave masters themselves. Not on triumphant story, not even on indisputable facts, do I now accuse Slavery, but on its character, as revealed in its own simple definition of itself. Out of its own mouth do I condemn it. By the law of Slavery ^ man, created in the image of God, is divested of his human character, and declared to be a mere chattel. That this statement may not seem to be put for- ward without precise authority, I quote the law of two different States. The civil code of Louisiana thus defines a slave : on ' A slave ts one who is in the power of a master to whom he helongs. The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his indastry, and his labour. He can do nothing*, possess nothing", nor acquire any thing but what must belong" to his master.'— Civil Codcj Art. 35. The law of another polished Slave State gives this definition— * Slaves shall be deemed, sold, taken, reputed, and adjudged in law to be chattels personal, in the hands of their owners and possessors, and their executors, administrators, and assignees, to all intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever.'— 2 Brev, Dig. 229. And a careful writer— Judge Stroud— in a work of juridical as well as philanthropic merit, thus sums up the law : *The cardinal principle of Slavery— that the slave is not to be ranked among sentient beings, but among things— as an article of property— a chattel personal— obtains as undoubted law in all of these (the Slave) StateaJ—Stroitd's Laws of Slavery , 22. " Sir, this is enough. As out of its small egg crawls forth the slimy, scaly reptile crocodile, so out of this simple definition crawls forth the whole slimy, scaly reptile monstrosity by which a man is changed into a chattel —a person is converted into a thing— a soul is transmuted into merchandise. According to this very definition, the slave is held simply for the good of his master, to whose behests his hfe, Uberty, and happiness are devoted, and by whom he may be bartered, leased, mortgaged, bequeathed, in- voiced, shipped as cargo, stored as goods, sold on execution, knocked off at pubUc outcry, and even staked at the gaming-table on the hazard of a card or a die. The slave may seem to have a wife, but he has not ; for his wife belongs to his master. He may seem to have a child, but he has not ; for his child belongs to his master. He may be filled with the desire of knowledge, opening to him the gates of hope on earth and in heaven, but the master may impiously close this sacred pursuit. Thus is he robbed, not merely of privileges, but of himself; not merely of money and labour, but of wife and children ; not merely cf time and opportunity, but of every assurance of happiness ; not merely of earthly hope, but of all those divine aspirations that spring from the fountain of light. He is not merely restrained in Uberty, but totally deprived of it ; not merely curtailed in rights, but absolutely stripped of them ; not merely loaded with burthens, but changed into a beast of burthen ; not merely bent in his countenance to the earth, but sunk to the legal level of a quadruped ; not merely exposed to personal cruelty, but de- s prived of his character as a iierson ; not merely compelled to m voluntary labour, but degraded to be a rude thing-; not merely shut out from knowledge, but wrested from his place in the human family. And all this. Sir, is according to the simple law of Slavery. "Nor is even this all. The law, by cumulative provisions, positively forbids that a slave shall be taug-ht to read. Hear this, fellow citizens, and confess that no barbarism of despotism, no extravagance of tyranny, no excess of impiety, can be more blasphemous or deadly. * train up a child in the way he should go,' is the lesson of sacred wisdom ; but the law of slaves boldly prohibits any such training, and dooms the child to hopeless Ignorance and degradation. ' Let there be light,' was the Divine utterance at the very dawn of creation, and this commandment, travelling with the ages and the hours, still speaks with the voice of God; but the law of Slavery says, ^Let there be darkness.' " But it is earnestly averred that slave masters are humane, and that slaves are treated with kindness. These averments, however, I properly put aside, precisely as I have already put aside the multitudinous illustrations from the cruelty of Slavery. On the simple letter of the law I take my stand, and do not go beyond what is there nominated. The masses of men are not better than their laws, and, whatever may be the eminence of individual virtue, it is not reasonable to infer that the masses of slave-masters are better than the law of Slavery^ And since this law submits the slave to their irresponsible control, with power to bind and to scourge—to shut the soul from knowledge — to separate families— to unclasp the infant from a mother's breast, and the wife from a husband's arms— it is natural to conclude that such enormities are sanctioned by them, while the brutal prohibition of instruction by supplementary law gives crowning evidence of their complete complicity. And this con- clusion must exist unquestioned just so long as the law exists unrepealed. Cease, then, to blazon the humanity of slave- masters. Tell me not of the lenity with which this cruel law ia tempered to its unhappy subjects. Tell me not of the sym- pathy which overflows from the mansion of the master to the cnhiii of the slave. In vain you assert these instances. In vain you shew that there are individuals who do not exert the wickedness of the law. The law still endures. The institution of Slavery, which it defines and upholds, continues to defv public opmion, and within the limits of our Republic upwards of three millions of human beings, guilty only of a skin not coloured hke your own, are left the victims of its unrighteous, irresponsible power. .. i t 9 " Power divorced from right is devilish ; power without the check oi responsibility is tyrannical ; and I need not ^o back to the authonty of Plato, when I assert that the most complete injustice IS that which is erected into the form of law. But all these things concur in Slavery. It is, then, on the testimony ot slave-masters, solemnly, legislatively, juOiciaUy attested in the very law itself, that I now arraign this institution as an out- rage upon man and his Creator. And here is the necessity of the Anti-slavery Enterprise. A wrong so transcendent, so loath- some, so direful, must be encountered wherever it can be reached, and the battle must be continued without truce or compromise, until the field is entirely won. Freedom and Slavery can hold no divided empire ; nor can there be any true repose until free- dom is everywhere established. " To the necessity of the Anti-slavery Enterprise there are two, and only two, vital objections ; one'founded^on the alleged distinction of race, and the other on the alleged sanction of Chris- tianity. All other objections are of an inferior character, or are directed logically at its practicabihty. Of these two leading objections let me briefly speak. "1. And, first, of the alleged distinction of race. This objection Itself assumes two different forms, one founded on a prophetic malediction in the Old Testament, and the other on the professed observations of recent science. Its importance is apparent in the obvious fact, that, unless such distinction be clearly and un- mistakeably estabhshed, every argument by which our own Ireedom is vindicated-— every applause awarded to the successful rebellion of our iathers— every indignant word ever hurled against the enslavement of our white fellow-citizens by Algerine corsairs— must plead trumpet-tongued against the deep damna- tion of Slavery, whether white or blick. " It is said that the Africans are the posterity of Ham, the son of Noah, through Canaan, who was cursed by Noah to be the servant of his brethren, and that this malediction has de- scended upon all his posterity, including the unhappy Africans, who are accordingly devoted by God through unending gene- rations to unending bondage. Such is the i&vourite argument }j^ P"* ^'orth at the South, and more than once directly addrersed to myself. Here, for instance, is a passage from a letter recently received : ' You need not persist,' says the writer, 'in confounding Japheth's children with Ham's, and making both races one, and arguing on their rights as those of man broadly.'^ And I have been seriously assured, that until this objection is answered it will be in vain to press my views upon Congress or the country. Listen now to the texts of the Old Testament which are so strans-ftlv PTnnlnvpd. 10 V n^ 1- (Noah) said, Cursed be Canaan ; a servant of servaiits shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God ot Shem ; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall en- large Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be hi« servant.'— Genesw, chap. ix. 25—27. " This is all ; and I need only read these words in order to expose the w^hole tranf3picuous humbug-. But I am tempted to add, that, to justify this objection, it will be necessaiy to main- tam at least five different propositions, as essential links in the Cham of the African slave: first, that, by this malediction, Canaan himself was actually chang-ed into a chattel, whereas he IS simply made the servant of his brethren ; secondly, that not merely Canaan, but all his posterity, to the remotest g-ene- ration, was so changed, whereas the lang-uage has no such extent -.thirdly, that the African actually belongs to the pos- terity of Canaan— an ethnographical assumption absurdly cuffi- cuii to establish ; fourthly, that each of the descendants of biiem or Japheth has a right to hold an African fellow-man as * -Ja***"^— a proposition which finds no semblance of support ; md fifthly, that every slave master is truly descended from Shem or Japheth— a pedigi-ee which no anxiety or audacity can prove. This plain analysis, which may fitly excite a smile, shews the five-fold absurdity of an attempt to found this revolt- ing wrong on * Any successive title, long and dark. Drawn from the musty rolls of Noah's ark.' '^ This small bigotry, which could find comfort in these texts, has been lately exalted by the suggestion of science, that the ditterent races of men are not derived from a single pair, but from several distinct stocks, according to their several distinct characteristics; and it has been audaciously argued that the African is so far inferior as to lose all title to that hberty which !8 the birthri-ht of the lordly white. Now T have neither time nor disposition on this occasion to discuss the question of the unity ol the ruces, nor is it necessary to my preaent purpose. It may be that the different races of mea proceeded from different stock.) ; but there is buo one great human fomily, in which Caucasian and Alrican, Chhiese and Indian, are "all brothers, children of one Father, and heirs to one happiness, aliki on earth and in heaven, ' Star-eyed science ' cannot shiike this everiast- jng truth. It may vainly exhibit peculiarities in the African, by which he is distir.Lruishnble from the Caucaidan. Tt ni;v"- in his physical form and intellectual chsiracte.', presume to find the «tamp of permanent inferiority. Bat b> no leach of learning, by no torture of facts, by uo eilrontery of dogma, can it shevv texts. II »«i™->»ake bold to sayTthat whoever' a reflection otKr^n"™"""."*' ^^'''■''^' «'"'« "'^^'^ "»^™ly H leneccion or liimseii. On a matter so irresistiblv o\(^ur i^^^i\^^ S^teteh ^l'"' "" T?»-t '^han.cCwS a^t-tm k ; ^ Se h s llh fc "■' Plj-'T I'"^''. and "» philosouW makes us tor{,ei, nis Ligh place as theologian, has exposed the es^entinl antagonism between Chri.tianity\„d' Slavery fn a few pr^. Sve'lhe'vtv? ^Tr"l l!*'^''"^ *° hearfparticurariyP^"! oeieve, they have not been before introduced intfl this discussion .«/is"eC3v dir*'"' !? 9^'^'^^^y'' ^y^ Coleridge 'a ;?: son 13 eternally ditteivnced from a thhu, ; so that the idea of n fru,nanl>e.»<; necessarily excludes tl^ Ua of prvcr-lyilt^t ■nntf!!"r ''■'''''1' '''""^'; ""' ^'^ astonishmentr, I learn that a Boston divme has sought to throw the seamless ™™";r„* with n i\Z ? ' }^ '"■'' f """^^ *"''«" I '■"» t" "»"<1 that, w hm this very centuiy, other Jivines sought to throw the same seamless garment over the mor« shocking slave-trade; iu4 12 that, among- other publications, a little book was then put forth with the name of a reverend clergyman on the title-page, to prove that * the African trade for negro slaves is consistent with the principles of humanity and revealed religion ;' and, thinking" of thest things, I am ready to say with Shakespeare — -In religion* What damned error, but some sober brow Will bless it and approve it with a text ?' " In the support of Slavery it is the habit to pervert texts and to invent authority. Even St. Paul is vouched for a wrong w-hich his Christian life rebukes. Great stress is now laid on his example, as it appears in the Epistle to Philemon, written at Rome, and sent by Onesimus, a servant. From the single chap- ter constituting the entire Epistle I take the following passage in ten verses, which is strangely invoked for Slavery ; " I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds : which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me : whom I have sent again : thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels : whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have mini- stered unto me in the bonds of the gospel : but without thv mind would I do nothing ; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly. For perhaps he therefore de- parted for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever ; not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord? If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself. If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account. I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it : albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self.' — Epistle to Philemon, verses 10-19. " Out of this affectionate epistle, in which St. Paul calls the converted servant, Onesimus, his son, precisely as, in another epistle, he calls Timothy his son. Slavery has been elaborately vindicated, and the great apostle to the Gentiles has been madfe the very tutelary saint of the slave-hunter. Now, without rely- ing on minute criticism, to infer his real judgment of Slavery from his condemnation on another occasion of * men-stealers,' or, according to the original text, slave-traders, in company with * murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers,' and without tiiiMtTt viiiviiig vsj ciicTT Miai, L;in pinrsciis^ rpirnc, >vixcii tiriiv iiitci'" preted, is a protest against Slaver}^, and a voice for Freedom— all of which might be (lone — I content myself by calling attention to two things apparent on its face, and in themselves on all- ,-« sufficient response. First, while it appears that Onesimus had fWiJ'^r?® '^''^yj^^ servant of Philemon, it does not appear ■ tnat he had ever been held as a slave, much less as a chattel : and how ^ross and monstrous is the effort to derive a wrong-, by which man is chang-ed to a chattel, out of words, whether in tlie Constitution of our country or in the Bible, which do not exphcitly, unequivocaUy, and exclusively, define this wron^ I feecondly, in charging- Onesimus with this .-nistle to Philemon, tne apostle announces him as * not now a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved ;' and he enjoins upon his correspon- dent the hospitality due only to a free man, saying- expressly, II tnou count me, therefore, a partner, receive him as myself;' aye, bir, not as a slave, not even as servant, but as a brother be- loved, even as the Apostle himself. Thus, with apostolic pen, wrote Paul to his disciple Philemon. Beyond all doubt, in these words ot g-entleness, benediction, and emancipation, dropping with celestial, soul-awakening- power, there can be no justifica- tion for a conspiracy, which, beg-inning- with the treachery of Iscanot, and the temptation of pieces of silver, seeks, by fraud, brutality, and violence, throug-h officers of the law armed to the teetn, like pirates, and amidst soldiers who degrade their uni- form, to hurl a fellow-man back into the lash-resounding- den ot American Slavery ; and if any one can thus pervert this bene- licent example, allow me to say that he g^ives too much occasion to doubt Ins intelligence or liis sincerity. "Certainly I am right in thus stnpping from Slavery the apoloo-y of Christianity, which it has tenaciously hugged ; and here I leave the first part of my subject, assuming, agSmst every objection, the Necessity of our Enterprise. "II. I am now brought, in the second plr - to consider the Phacticabioty of the Enterprise. And here the way is easy. Jn shewmg Its necessity I have already demonstrated its prac- ticability ; for the former includes the latter, as the greater in- cludes the less. Whatever is necessary must be practicable. By a decree, which has r3ver been a by-word of tyranny, the Israelites were compelled to make bricks without straw; but it is nut according to the ways of a benevolent Providence that a man should be constrained to do whut cannot be done. What must be done can be done. Besides, the Anti-slavery Enterprise is neces- eary because it is right, rnd whatever is right is practicable. I know well the httle faith which the world has in the ♦ r»£i r\ t\ ««• W**A1>« triumph of mnciules. nrul T rP.uUK Winch our object is regarded; but not on this account am I dis- heartened Ihnt exuberant writer, Sir Thomas Brown, breaks lurtii m the ecstatic wish for some new difficulty in Chriatiaij 14 belief, that his faith mig-ht have a new victory ; and an eminent enthusiast went so far as to say that he beUeved because It was impossible — credo quia impossihile. But no such exalted faith is now required. Here is no impossibility, nor is there any difficulty which will not yield to a faithml, well-directed en- deavour. If to any timid soul the Enterprise seems impossible because it is too beautiful, then I say at once it is too beautiful not to be possible. " But descending from these summits, let me shew plainly the object which it seeks to accomplish, and herein you shall see and confess its complete practicability. While discountenancing all prejudice of colour, and every establishment of caste, the Anti-slavery Enterprise— at least, so far as I may speak for it — does not undertake to change human nature, or to force any individual into relations of life for which he is not morally, intellectually, and socially adapted ; nor does it necessarily assume, that a race degraded for long generations under the iron heel of bondage can be lifted at once into all the political privileges of an American citizen. But, Sir, it does confidently assume, against all question, contradiction, or assault whatever, that every man is entitled to life^ liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and, with equal confidence^ it asserts that every individual who wears the human form, whether black (xr ivhite^ should at once he recognised as man. I know not, when this is done, what other trials may be in wait for the unhappy African ; but I do know that the Anti-slavery Enterprise will* then have triumphed, and the institution of Slavery, a^ defined by exist- ing law, will no longer shock mankind. " In this work, the fiirst essential practical requisite is, that the question shall be openly and frankly confronted. Do not put it aside. Do not blink it out of sighf. Do not dod^e it. Approach it. Study it. Ponder it. Deal with it. Let it rest m the illumination of speech, conversation, and the press. Let it fill the thoughts of the statesman and the prayers of the pulpit. When Slavery is thus reofarded, its true character will be recognised as a hate- ful assemblage of unquestlonahle wrongs f under the sanction of existing law, and good men will be moved at once to apply the remedy. Already even its zealots admit that its * abuses ' sfiould be removed. This is their word, and not mine. Alas ! alas ! Sir, it is these very * abuses ' which constitute its component parts, without which it would not exist, even as the scourges in a bundle with the axe constituted the dread fas(;es of the Roman lictor. Take away these, and the whole embodied outraire will dis- appear. Purely that central assumption, more deadly tlian the axe itself, by which man is changed into a chattel, may be abandoned ; and is not this practicable t The associate scourges r t IS hj which that transcendent 'abuse' is surrounded may, one W one, be subtracted. The 'abuse' which substitutes concubinage lor mamag-e— the 'abuse' which annuls the parental relation— the abuse' which closes the portals of knowled^e-the 'abuse' which tyranically usurps all the labour of another-— now upheld by positive law, may by positive law be aboKshed. To say that tnis IS not practicable, in the nineteenth century, would be a scandal upon mankind. And just in proportion as'these ' abuses ' cease to have the sanction of law will the institution of Slavery cease to exist. The African, whatever may then be his condition, will no longer be the slave over whose wrong-s and sorrows the world throb at times fiercely indignant, and at times painfully sad, while with outstretched arms he sends forth the piteous cry, 'Am I not a man and a brother?' "In pressing forward to this result, the inquiry is often pre- sented, to what extent, if any, shall compensation be allowed to the slave masters? Clearly, if the point be determined by abso- lute justice, not the masters, but the slaves, will be entitled to conapensation, for it is the slaves who, throughout weary gene- rations, have been deprived of their toil and all its fruits, which went to ennch their masters. Besides, it seems hardly reason- able to i)ay for the relinquishment of those disgusting 'abuses' which in their aggregation, constitute the bundle of Slavery, rray, feir, by what tanff, price current, or principle of equation, shall their several values be estimated? What sum shall be counted out as the proper price for the abandonment of that pretension -more indecent than the Jus primce metis of the teudal age, which leaves woman, whether in the arms of master or slave, always a concubine? What bribe shall be given for the restoration of God-given parental rights? What money shall be paid for taking off the padlock by which souls are shut in darknejis ? How much for a quit-claim to labour now meanly exacted by the strong from the weak ? And what compensation eliall be awarded for the surrender of that egregious assumption, condemned by reason and abhorred by piety, which changes a man into a thing ? I put these questions without undertaking judgment upon them. Shrinking instinctively from any recog- nition of rights founded on wrongs, I find myself shrinking also from any austere verdict whicli shall deny the means neces- sary to the great consummntion we seek. Our fathers, under W ashington, did not hesitntr bv Act of Congress to appropriate largely for the ransom o' vhite fellow-citizens enslaved by Algerine corsairs ; and, following this examnle. I am diftiv^aed to consider the Question of compensation as one of expediency! to be determined by the exigency of the hour and tlie consti- tutional powers of the Government j though such is my desire 16 to see tlie foul fiend of Slavery in flight, that 1 could not hesitate to build even a bridg^e of gold, if necessary, to promote his escape. " The Practicability of the Anti-Slavery Enterprise has been constantly questioned, often so superficially, as to be ans\/ered at once. I shall not take time to consider the allegation founded on considerations of pohtical economy, which audaciously as- sumes that slave-labour — that Slavery is more profitable than Freedom ; for this is all exploded by the official tables of the census ; nor that other futile argument, that the slaves are not prepared for Freedom, and, therefore, should not be precipitated into this condition • for that is no better than the ancient Greek folly, where the anxious mother would not allow her son to go into the water until he had fi>st learned to swim. But as against the Necessity of the Anti-slavery Enterprise there were two chief objections; so, also, against its Practicability are there two : the first, founded on its alleged danger to the master, and the second, on its alleged danger to the slave himself. " 1. The first objection, founded on the alleged danger to the master, most generally takes the extravagant form, that the slave, if released from his present condition, would cut his master's throat. Here is a blatant paradox, which can pass foi reason only among those who have lost their reason. With an absurdity which finds no parallel except in the defences of Slavery, it assumes that the African, when treated justly, will show a vindictiveness which he does not exhibit when treated unjustly ; that when elevated by the blessings of Freedom, he will develope an appetite for blood which he never manifested when crushed by the curse of bondage. At present, the slave sees his wife ravished from his arms — sees his infant swept to the auction-block— sees the heavenly gate of knowledge shut upon him— sees his industry and all its fruits unjustly clutched by another — sees himself and offspring doomed to a servitude from which there is no redemption ; and still his master sleeps secure. Will the master sleep less secure when the slave no longer smarts under these revolting atrocities ? I will not trifle with your intelligence, or with the quick-passing hour, by arguing this question. " But there is a loftier example brightening the historic page, by which the seal of experience is affixed to the conclusions of reason ; and you would hardly pardon me if I failed to adduce it. By virtue of a single Act of Parhament, the slaves of the British West Indies were changed at once to freedmen ; and this great transition was accomplished absolutely without per- gonal danger of any kind to the master. And yet the chance of danger there was far greater than among us. In our broad i \ I ! I 17 country the slaves are overshadowed by a more than six-fold white population. Only in two States— South Carolina and Mississippi — do the slaves outnumber the whites, and there but slightly, while in the entire slave States the whites outnumber the slaves by many millio . But it was otherwise in the British West Indies, where the whites were overshadowed by a more than six-fold slave population. The slaves were 800,000, while the whites numbered only 131,000, distributed in different pro- portions on the different islands. And this disproportion has since increased rather than diminished, always without dangrer to the whites. In Jamaica, the larg-est of these possessions, there are now upwards of 400,000 Africans, and only 37,000 whites ; in Barbadoes,the next largest possession, there are 120,000 Africans, and only 15,000 whites ; in St. Lucia, 19,500 Africans, and only 600 whites; in Tobago, 14,000 Africans, and only 600 whites ; in Monserrat, 600 Africans, and only 150 whites ; and in the Grenadines, upwards of 6000 Africans, and less than 50 whites. And yet in all these places the authorities attest the good behaviour of the Africans. Sir Lionel Smith, the Governor of Jamaica, in his speech to the Assembly, declared that their con- duct * proves how well they deserve the boon of freedom.' Another Governor of another island dwells on the * peculiarly rare instances of the commission of grave or sanguinary crimes among the emancipated portion of these islands ;' and the Queen of England, in a speech from the throne, has announced that the complete and final emancipation of the Africans had * taken place without any disturbance of public order and tranquilUty.' In this example I hail new confirmation of the rule that the highest safety is in doing right; and thus do I dismiss the objection founded on the alleged danger to the master. " And I am now brought to the second objection, founded on the alleged damage to the slave. It is common among the par- tisans of Slavery to ai^sert that our Enterprise has actually retarded the very cause it seeks to promote ; and this paradoxical accusation, which might naturally shew itself among the rank weeds of the South, is cherished here on our northern soil, by those who anxiously look for any fig-leaf with which to cover their indifference or tergiversation. " This pecuhar form of complaint is an old device which has been instinctively employed on other occasions, until it has ceased to be even plausible. Thus, throughout all times, has every good cause been encountered. The Saviour was nailed to the cross rvif.b a l^mw-n t\¥ fVinrno n-n TTia lion/l oa o /liaf-ii-nKoT* of that peace on earth which He came to declare. The disciples, while preaching the gospel of forgiveness and good will, were Btoned as preachers of sedition and "discord. The reformers, who i m 18 soug-ht to establish a higher piety and faith, were burnt at the stake as blasphemers and infidels. Patriots, in all ages, who have striven for their country's good, have been doomed to the scaffold or to exile, even as their country's enemies. And those brave Englishmen, who, at home, under the lead of Edmund Burke, even against their own country, espoused the cause of our fathers, shared the same illogical impeachment, which was touched to the quick by that orator-statesman, when, after exposing its essential vice ^in attributing the ill-effect of ill-judged conduct to the arguments used to dissuade us from it,' he denounced it as * very absurd, but very common in modem practice, and very wicked,' Aye, Sir, it is common in modem practice. In England it has vainly renewed itself with special frequency against the Bible Societies ; against the friends of education ; against the patrons of vaccination ; against the partisans of peace ; all of whom have been openly arrai^ed as provoking and increasing the very evils, whether of infidelity, idleness, dis- ease, or war, which they benignly sought to check. And, to bring an instance which is applicable to our own. Wilberforce, when conducting the Anti-slavery Enterprise of England, first against the slave-trade, and then against Slavery itself, was told that those efforts, by which his name Is now consecrated for evermore, tended to increase the hardships of the slave, even to the extent of rivetting anew his chains. Such are the prece- dents for the imputation to which our Enterprise is exposed ; and such also are the precedents by which I exhibit the fallacy of the imputation. " Sir, 1 do not doubt that the Enterprise has produced heat and irritation, amounting often to inflammation, among slave - masters, which, to superficial minds, may seem inconsistent with success ; but which the careful obsei'ver will recognise at once as the natural and not unhealthy effort of a diseased body to purge itself of existing impurities ; and just in proportion to the malignity of the concealed poison will be the extent of inflammation. A distemper like Slavery cannot be ejected like a splinter. It is, perhaps, too much to expect that men thus tortured should reason calmly — that patients thus suffering should comprehend the true nature of their case, and kindly acknow- ledge the beneficent work ; but not on this account can it be suspended. " In the face of the complaint I assert that the Anti-Slavery Enterprise has already accomplished incalculable good. Even now it touches the national heart as it never before was touched, Bweeping its strings with a might to draw forth emotions such as no political struggle has ever evoked. It moves the young, the middle-aged, and the old. It enters the family circle, and i i *f 4 it at the bo have scaffold \e brave Burke, fathers, ched to sing its iduct to ed it as ad very England inst the against peace ; ng and 588, dis- And, to lerforce, Qd, first vas told ated for even to e prece- xposed ; J fallacy 3ed heat g slave - ;nt with at once body to rtion to Ltent of ;ted like len thus ^ should icknow- m it be Slavery Even couched, tns such ! young, •cle, and t ♦■ 'f \ 19 niingles with the flame of the household hearth. It reaches tli^ soul of mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters, filling all with a new aspiration for justice on earth, and awakening, not merely a sentiment against Slavery, such as prevailed with our fathers, but a deep, undying conviction of a wrong, and a determination to leave no eiforts imattempted for its removal. With the sym- pathies of all Christendom as allies, it has already encompassed the slave-masters, by a moral blockade^ invisible to the eye, but more potent than navies, from which there can be no escape, except in final capitulation. Thus it has created the irresistible influence which itself constitutes the beginning of success. Already there are signs of change. In common speech, as well as in writing, among slave-masters the bondman is no longer called a slave, but a servantj thus, by a soft substitution, con- ceahng and condemning the true relation. Even newspapers in the land of bondage blush with indignation at the hunt of men by bloodhounds, thus protesting against an unquestionable in- cident of Slavery. Other signs are found in the added comfort of the slave ; in the enlarged attention to his wants ; in the experiments now beginning, by which the slave is enabled to share in the profits of his labour, and thus finally secure his freedom ; and, above all, in the consciousness among slave- masters themselves that they dwell now, as never before, under the keen observation of an ever- wakeful public opinion, quick- ened by an ever-wakeful public press. Nor is this all. Only lately, propositions have been introduced into the legislatures of different States, and coimtenanced by governors, to mitigate the existing law of Slavery ; and almost while speaking I have re- ceived the drafts of two different memorials— one addressed to the Legislature of Virginia, and the other to that of North Carolina — asking for the slave three things, which it will be monstrous to refuse, but which, if conceded, will take from Slavery its existing character. I mean, first, the protection of the marriage relation : secondly, the protection of the parental relation ; and thirdly, the privilege of knowledge. Grant these, and the girdled Upas tree soon must die. Sir, amidst these tokens of present success, and the auguries of the future, I am not disturbed by any complaints of seeming damage. * Though it consume our own dwelling, who does not venerate fire, without which human life can hardly exist on earth V says the Hindoo proverb ; and the time is even now at hand when the Anti-Slavery Enterprise, which is the very fire of Freedom, with all its incidental excesses or excitements, will be hailed with a similar regard. "III. And now, in the third f ), the Anti- Slavery Enter- 20 prise, which I have shewn to be at once necessary and practi- cable, is commended by its inherent DiGiifixY. Here the reasons are obvious and imanswerable. " Its object is benevolent ; nor is there in the dreary annals of the past a sing-le enterprise which stands forth more clearly and indisputably entitled to this character. With unsurpassed and touching- magnanimity it seeks to benefit the lowly whom your eyes have not seen, and who are ignorant even of your labours, while it demands and receives a self-sacrifice calcidated to en- noble an enterprise of even questionable merit. Its true rank is among works properly called philanthropic—the title of highest honour on earth. * I take goodness in this sense,' says Lord Bacon in his Essays, ^ the affecting of the weal ofmen^ which is what the Grecians call Philanthropeia— of all virtues and dig- nities of the mind the greatest being the character of the Deity; and without it man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing, no better than a kind of vermin.' Lord Bacon was right, and, perhaps, unconsciously followed a higher authority ; for when Moses asked the Lord to shew unto him His glory, the Lord said, ' I will make all my goodness to pass before thee.' Ah ! Sir, Peace has trophies fairer and more perennial than any snatched from the fields of blood ; but among all these the fairest and more perennial are the trophies of beneficence. Scholarship, literature, jurisprudence, art, may wear their well-deserved ho- nours, but an enterprise of goodness deserves, and will yet re- ceive, a higher palm than these. "In other aspects its dignity is apparent. It concerns the cause of human freedom, which, from the earHest days, has been the darling of the history. By all the memories of the past, by the stories of childhood and the studies of youth, by every ex- ample of magnanimous virtue, by every aspiration tor the good and true, by the fame of the martyrs swelling through all time, by the renown of patriots whose Hves are land-marks of pro- gress, by the praise lavished upon our fathers, you are sum- moned to this work. Unless Freedom be an illusion, and bene- volence an error, you cannot resist the appeal. But our cause IS nobler even than that of our fathers, inasmuch as it is more exalted to struggle for the freedom of others than for our own. " Its practical importance at this moment gives to it an addi- tional eminence. Whether measured by the number of beings It seeks to benefit, by the ma^-nitude of 'the wrongs it hopes to reheve, by the difficulties which beset it, by the political rela- hsted, the cause of the slave now assumes proportions of grandeur which dwarf all other interests in our broad country. In its presence the machinations of politicians, the aspirations of office- s' * T 4 21 seekers, and the combinations of party, all sink below even their ordinary insignificance. For myself, Sir, I can see little else at this time among us which can tempt out on to the exposed steeps of public life an honest man who wishes, by something that he does, to leave the world better than he found it. I can see little else which can aiford any of those satisfactions which an honest man should covet. Nor is there any cause which so surely pro- mises final success. * Oh ! a fair cause stands firm and will abide ; Legions of angels fight upon its side !' " It is written that in the last days there shall be scoffers ; and even this Enterprise, thus philanthropic, has not escaped their aspersions. And as the objections to its Necessity were two-fold, and the objections to its Practicability two-fold, so, also, are the aspersions two-fold ;— first, in the form of hard words, and secondly, by personal disparagement of those who are engaged in it. "1. The hard words are manifold as the passions and preju- dices of men ; but they generally end in the imputation of * fa- naticism.' In such a cause I am wiUing to be called * fanatic,' or what you will. I care not for aspersions, nor shall I shrink from hard words, either here or elsewhere. I have learned from that great Englishman, Oliver Cromwell, that no man can be trusted ^ who is afraid of a paper pellet ;' and I am too famiUar with history not to know that every movement for reform in Church or State, every endeavour for human liberty or human rights, has been thus assailed. I do not forget with what facihty and frequency hard words have been employed — howthat grandest character of many generations, the precursor of our own Wash- ington, without whose example our Republic might have failed — the great William, Prince of Orange, the founder of the Dutch Republic, the United States of Holland — I do not forget how he was publicly branded as ^ a perjurer and a pest of society ;' and, not to dwell on general instances, how the enterprise for the aboUtion of the slave-trade was characterised on the floor of Parliament by one eminent speaker as * mischievous,' and by another as ' visionary and delusive ;' and how the exalted cha- racters which it had enhsted were arraigned by still another eminent speaker — none other than that Tarleton, so conspicuous 1.' vii~ \^vj.ixxilctiivl^x v/i rxiU J_rx xtiirxi xxxjiv^xj: xxx tiJtv- j-rv-T-lfxx^ paigns of our Revolution, but more conspicuous in politics at home— 'as a junto of sectaries, sophists, enthusiasts, and fanatics;' and also were again arraigned by no less a person than a prince of the blood, the Duke of Clarence, afterwards WilUam IV. of 22 England, as either 'fanatics or hypocrites/ in one of which classes he openly placed William Wilberforce. But impartial history, with immortal pen, has redressed these unpassioned judgments : and the same impartial history will yet rejudge the impassioned judgments of this hour. "2. Hard words have been followed hy personal disparage- ment, and the sneer is often launched that our Enterprise lacks the authority of names eminent in Church and State. If this be so, the more is the pity on their account ; for our cause is needed to them more than they are needed to our cause. But, alas ! it is only according to the example of history that it should be so. It is not the eminent in Church and State, the rich and powerful, the favourite of fortune and of place, who most promptly welcome Truth when she heralds change in the exist- ing order of things. It is others in poorer condition who throw open their hospitable hearts to the unattended stranger. Nay more ; it is not the dwellers amidst the glare of the world, but the humbl3 and lowly, who most clearly discern new duties— as the watchers placed in the depths of a well may observe the stars which are obscured to those who live in the eifuh^-ence of noon. Placed below the egotism and prejudice of selfSnterest, or of a class— below the cares and temptations of wealth or power— in the obscurity of common Hfe, they discern the new signal, and surrender themselves unreservedly to its guidance. The Saviour knew this. He did not call upon the priest, or Levite, or Pharisee, to follow Him ; but upon the humble fish- erman by the sea of Gahlee. And this is my response to the aspersions upon our cause. ^ " And now, Sir, I present to you the Anti-Slavery Enterprise vindicated in Necessity, Practicability, and Dignity against all objections. If there be any objection which I have not answered it is because I am not aware of its existence. It remains that I should give a practical conclusion to this whole matter by shewing, though in glimpses only, your Special Dutiv^^ a's Fkeemen of the North. And, thank God ! at last tb--e '^ a North. " Mr. President, it is not uncommon to hear persons amono* us at the North confess the wrong of Slavery, and then, folding their hands in absolute hstlessness, ejaculate, ' What can we do about it V Such men we encounter daily. You all know them . Among them are lat. l .,i every department of human activity— who perpetually '.-y ^uill, and plan -who shrink from no la- bour— who are dti-xTiiea by no peril of commercial adventure, by no hardihood of industrial enterprise— who, reaching in their understanding across ocean and continents, would undertake ' to put a girdle about the earth in forty seconds :' and yet, dis^ J, i 93 heartened, they can join in no efTort ag-ainst Slavery. Others there are, especially among- the youthful and enthusiastic, who vainly sigh because they were not born in the age of chivalry, or at least in the days of the Revolution, not thinking- that m this Enteri>rise there is an opi^ortunity of loftier endeavour, such as no paladin of chivalry or chief of the Revolution enjoyed. Others there are, who freely bestow their means and time upon the distant inaccessible heathen of another hemisphere in the islands of the sea ; and yet they can do nothing to mitigate our greater heathenism here at home. While confessing that it ought to disappear from the earth, they forego, renounce, and abandon all exertion against it. Others there are still (such is huRian inconsistency !) who plant the tree in whose full-grown j-hade they can never expect to sit— who hopefully drop the acorn in the earth, trusting that the oak which it sends upward to the skies will shelter their children beneath its shide ; but they will do nothing to plant or nurture the great tree of Liberty, that it may cover with its arms unborn g'^nerations of men. " Others still there are, particularly in" the large cities, who content themselves by occasional contributions to the redemp- tion of a slave. To this object they give out of ample riches, and thus seek to silence the monitions of conscience. Now, I would not discountenance any form of activity by which human freedom, even in a single case, may be secured. But I desire to say that such an act— too often accompanied by a pharisaical pretension in strange contrast to the petty perfoi-mance— cannot be considered an essential aid to the Anti-Slavery Enterprise. Not in this way can any impression be made on an evil so vast as Slavery, as you will clearly see by an illustration which I shall give. The god Thor, of Scandinavian mythology, whose strength was more than that of Hercules, was once challenged to drain a simple cup dry. He applied it to his lips, and with superhuman capacity drank, but the water did not recede even from the rim, till, at last, the god abandoned the effort. The failure of even his extraordinary strength was explained, when he learned that the simple cup had communicated, by an invi- sible connection, with the whole vast ocean behind, out of which it was perpetually supplied, and which remained absolutely un- affected by the effort. And just so will these occasions of charity, though encountered by the largest private means, be constantly renewed, for they communicate with the whole vast black sea of Slavery behind^ out of which they are perpetually supplied, and which remains absolutely unaffected by the effort. Sir, private means may cope with individual necessities, but they are power- less to redress the evils of a wicked institution. Charity is limited and local ; but the evils of Slavery are infinite and every- 24 Tvhere. Besides, a wrong, orgunized and upheld hj law, can be removed only through a change of the law. Not, then, by an occasional contribution to the ransom of a slave can your "duty be done in this great cause, but only by earnest, constant, valiant efforts against the institution— agamst the law — which makea slaves. " 1 am not insensible of the difficulties of this work. Full well I know the power of Slavery'. Full well I know its various in- trenchments in the Church, the politics, and the prejudices of the country. Full well I know the sensitive interests of pro- perty, amounting to many hundred millions of dollars, which are said to be at stake. But these things can furnish no motive or apology for inditterence, or for any folding of the hands. Surely the wrong is not le"s wrong because it is gigantic— the evil is not less evil because it is immeasurable ; nor can the duty of perpetual warfare with wron^ or evil be in this instance sus- pended. Nay, because Slavery is powerful, because the enter- prise is difficult, therefore is the duty of all more exigent. The Toll tempered soul does not yield to difficulties, but presses onward for ever with increased resolution. " And here the question occurs which is so often pressed in argument or in taant, What have we at the North to do with Slavery ? In answer, I might content myself by saying that, as meirbers of the human family, bound together by the cords of a common manhood, there is no human wrong to which we can be justly insensible, nor is there any human sorrow which we should not seek to relieve ; but I prefer to say on this occa- sion that, as citizens of the United States anxious for the good name, the repose, and the prosperity of the Republic, that it may be a blessing, and not a curse, to mankind, there is nothing among all its diversified interests under the national Constitu- tion with which at this moment we have so much to do, nor is there any thing with regard to which our duties are so irresis- tibly clear. 1 do not dwell on the scandal of Slavery in the na- tional capital, of Slavery in the national territories, of the coast- wise slave-trade on the high seas beneath the national flag, all of which are outside of State limits and within the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress, where you and I, Sir, and every free-« man in the North are compelled to share the responsibility and help to bind the chain. To dislodge Slavery from these usurped footholds under the Constitution, and thus at once to reUeve ourselves from a grievous responsibility, and to ])eg'in the great work of emancipation, were an obiect worthv of an exalted am- bition. But before even this can be commenced there is a great work, more than any other important and urgent, which must be consummated in the domam of national politics, and also I i i f . H n V, can be I, bv an )ur duty b, valiant ii makes Full well rioiis in- » dices of of pro- 8, which a motive I hands, itic— the the duty ince Sus- ie enter- it. The presses essed in do with ng" that, le cords hich we cv which is occa- he good it it may nothing Jonstitu- ), nor is irresis- i the na- le coast- flag", all xclusive 'ly free-" lity and usurped > reUeve le great ted firn- a great h must nd also t I here at home in the Free States. The national government itself must be emancipated, so that it shall no Ion Jr wSX yoke t?I7f^''-.*^^^^^^.^7'^ ^"i^ pretensic^s must be di^! lodged from Its usurped foothold in tfie Free States themselves thus rehevmg ourselves from a grievous respSilitv at our wrhi^Xnai^T-"^^^^^^^^^ '^'^'^^' J^^ma.ci,3n, ev"n wit^ the national junsdiction, can be achieved only throug-h tne emancipation of the Free States, accompanied by the com- plete emancipation of the national government ^ Ave S?r emancipation at the South can be refched X throu^'h the rr^Twhaf h? ^'""^ ..^^' *^^ '' ^^ answer toS inter- ??R JVh ^""^ ^^ ^\^^^ ^*^^^ *« do with Slavery ? «nf>,^- ? T^^^^"" ™^'^,^^ "^^^^ ye* "lore irresistible, while with mingled sorrow and shame, I pourtray the tvTannip!l power which holds us in thraldom. Tofw7LS!dilg Tite t'he v«.f "r^"''^ ^''^*^> ^"^ inteUi^ence, tLltol^is now Skvp?. "1 ^"^ OLiaAKCHY whose single inspiration comes from Slavery. According to the official tebles ot* our recent census the shive-masters-^u,en, women,and chn^en all told-werro'^^ THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SEVEN THOUSAND ; and ycrth^ small company now dominates over the Rf public,'deteriSnes iS iT^V'^'l'tir^'''^^'''^ -^ swVsalCrabTolut^ tiat BPvpi til -Z^^"'' *^^* ^«^'^^" ^leeps^ and an activity that never tires-with aj many eyes as Argis, and as many arms as Bnareus~the sj^ve ol^rchy afserte "ts ^rp3 and insatiate masterdom; now seizing a broad territo^ once covered by a time-honoured ordinance of Freedom ; nowThiTat! ening to wrest Cuba from Spain by violent war, o'r haTdly less mXrinr:;^^ hankenngir another slice of M^^^^^^ t^ ot^n f ]f. ? •/ 't" '^' ^^I'^y ' '^^^^ piopoding once more mX^nkhl «^t T' H'^^^^^ «lave-trade, and thus to replenish Its shambles witn human flesh: and now bv the lim I'uVTth * 'rr ?' r^^T 7 -dadous clSole wht group ot the West Indies, whether held by Holland Snain h^eridl'^^-t^ "? '"^i ^^^"*^^^" iBlands,^wSS^ evp/L ihfl-f ^ '^^iV ^"^. f '*'^^'' '^' treacherous ambition even to the distant valley of the Amazon. anp wf""'!"^' '*' P^^^^i: *^^ Slave Oligarchy has applied ane. .est lor office, very diff-erent from that of Jefferson-' Is TLrtf ^ ^' *"' "^^^'r^ ^ ^' ^'^ ^^^^^^^"1 *« tli« Constitution V These things are all forgotten now in iLe controlling question, frnm . '^^^''l ^ ^^''Z^' T'^^ ^"•«^'^"* ostmcism it Lcludes from every national office all who caSnot respond to this test. ^,^"1 "— "^".iuiiui iius uiiH tyranny bt'come, that at this mom.nt, while I now speak, coulcf Washington, Jefi-ersnn, or franklin, once more descend irom their spheres above to mingle 26 in our affairs and bless us with their wisdom, not one of them, with his recorded, unretracted opinions on Slavery, could re- ceive a nomination for the Presidency from a National Conven- tion of either of the late great pohtical parties ; nor, stranger still, could either of these sainted patriots, whose names alone open a perpetual fountain of gratitude in all your hearts, be confirmed by the Senate of the United States for any pohtical function whatever under the national government — not even for the office of postmaster. What I now say, amidst your natural astonishment, 1 have more than once uttered from my seat in the Senate, and no man there has made answer, for no man who has sat in its secret sessions and there learned the test which is practically appUed could make answer ; and I ask you to accept this statement as my testimony derived from the ex- perience which has been my lot. Yes, fellow-citizens, had this test prevailed in the earlier days, Washington— first in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen— could not have been created generahssimo of the American forces ; Jeiferson could not have taken his place on the Committee to draft the Declaration of Independence ; and Franklin could not have gone forth to FrancCj with the commission of the infant Republic, to secure the invaluable alHance of that ancient kingdom. " And this giant strength is used with a giant heartlessness. By a cruel enactment, which has no source in the Constitution, which defies justice, which tramples on humanity, and which rebels against God, the Free States are made the hunting-ground for slaves, and you, and I, and all good citizens, are summoned to join in the loathsome and abhorred work. Your hearts and judgments, swift to feel and to condemn, will not require me to expose here the abomination of the Fugitive Slave Bill or its utter unconstitutionahty. Elsewhere 1 have done this, and never been answered. Nor will you expect that an enactment so entirely devoid of all just sanction should be called by the sacred name of law. History still repeats the language in v/hich our fathers persevered, when they denounced the last emanation of British tyranny, which heralded the revolution, as the Boston Port Bill, and 1 am content with this precedent. 1 have said that if any man finds in the Gospel any support of Slavery it is because Slavery is already in himself ; so do I now say, if any man finds in the Constitution of our country any support of the Fugitive Slave Bill it is because that Bill is already in himself. One of our ancient masters—Aristotle, I think— tells us that every man has a beast in his bosom : but the northern citizen who has the Fuiritive Slave liill tlinrf* hoH worsf* thnn ii hp°gt tt devil I And yet in this bill— more even than in the ostracism at which you rebel— does the Slave Oligarchy stand confessed; «MM of them, could re- Conven- strang-er nes alone learts, be ^ political i even for ir natural ly seat in ' no man the test ask you 1 the ex- had this war, first not have Jefferson draft the a,ve gone Elepublic, a. flessness. stitution, d which (•-ground mmoned arts and re me to ill or its \m, and lactment d by the in v/hich nanation e Boston ave said rery it is ', if any rt of the himself, us that n citizen stracism nfessed ; 27 heartless, grasping, tyrannical ; careless of humanity, right or the Constitution; wanting that foundation of justic^ wS is the essential bale of every civihzed community^ stuck Together only by confederacy in spoliation ; and constitkn^ in Xlf a magnum latrocinium; while it deg^-ades the Free Spates to the condition of a slave plantation, under the lash of a vulgar, de! spised, and revolting overseer. vuigar, ue " Surely, fellow-citizens, without hesitation or postponement you will insist that this Oligarchy shall be overthrown and here is the foremost among the special duties of the North now required for the honour of the Republic for our own defence and m obedience to God Urging this comprehensive duty, I oi^^^^ to have hours rather than minutes before me; but 'in a few words you shall see its comprehensive importance. ProS the Slave Ohgarchy, and the wickedness of'^the Fugitive Slave Bill will be expelled from the statute book. Prostrate the Slave Oligarchy anA Slavery will cease at once in the nTtLLl can Ll Prostrate theSlaveO%archy,andHberty will be^^^^^^^^^ sal law of all the national territories. Prostrate the Slave Olijrarchv and the slave-trade will no longer skulk alongour coast beSh the national flag. Prostrate the" Slave Ohgarchy, and tStional government will be at length divorced from slavery. PrS the S^ve Oligarchy, and the national policy wiT be cw'd rom Slavery to Freedom. Prostrate the^ Slave Oligarchv fnd the North will no longer be the vassal of the Soutl^^ Strate the Slave Oligarchy, and the North will be admitted to its S SW oh' r'' ""f ^''"''^,? '^' '^' ^^P"^^i^- Prostrate the Slave Oigarchy, and you will possess the master-key to unlock the whole house of Slavery. Prostrate the Slave Oligarchy, and the gates of emancipation will be open at the South. ^' cn.n- 1 1 V .^ waiting for this consummation, there is another spec al duty to be done here at home, on our own soil, which must be made free m reahty as in name. And here 'l shall speak frankly, thouL-h not without a proper sense of the respon- Hibi ity of my words. I know that I cannot address you en- tirely a^ a pnvate citizen, but I shall not say any thing here which I have not said elsewhere, and which I shall not be proud o vindicate everywhere. ^ A lie/ it has been declared, * sLuld be trarrn)led out and extinguished for ever,' and surely you will do nothing less with a tyrannical and wicked pniictmpnt The !i^^!JT .'J ''''*' Bill, while it continues unrepealed, must be made a dead letter ; not by violence, not by any unconstitutional ac- tivity or intervention, not even by busty conflict between iuri..- aicuon«, out by un aroused public opinion, which, in its irresis- tible might shall blast with contempt, indignation, and abhor- rence all who consent to be its agents. Thus did our fathers Wast all who became the agents of the Stamp Act; and surely 28 their motive was small compared with ours. The slave-hunter who drags his victim from Africa is loathed as a monster ; but I defy anj^acutenessofreasonto indicate themoral difference between his act and that of the slave-hunter, who drags his victim from our northern free soil. A few puny persons, caUing themselves the Congress of the United States, with the titles of Represen- tatives and Senators, cannot turn wrong into right— cannot change a man into a thing— cannot reverse the irreversible law ot Crod— cannot make him wicked who hunts a slave on the burning sands of Congo or Guinea, and make him virtuous who hunts a slave m the colder streets of Boston or New York. IS' or can any acuteness of reason distinguish between the bill of sale trom the kidnapper, by which the unhappy African was origi- nally transferred in Congo or Guinea, and the certificate of the Commissioner, by which, when once again in Freedom, he was reduced anew to bondage. The acts are kindred, and should share a kindred condemnation. *J One man's virtue becomes a standard of excellence for all ; and there is now in Boston a simple citizen whose example may be a lesson to commissioners, marshals, magistrates, while it fills ail with the beauty of a generous act. I refer to Mr. Hayes, who resigned his place in the city police rather than take any part in the pack of the slave-hunter. He is now the doorkeeper ot the pubhc edifice which has been honoured this winter by the triumphant lectures on Slavery. Better be a doorkeeper in the house ot the Lord than a dweller in the tents of the ungodly, lor myself, let me say that I can imagine no office, no salar'y. no consideration, which I would not gladly forego rather than become in any way an agent for the enslavement of my brother- man. Where, for me, would be comfort or solace after such a work? In dreams and in waking hours, in solitude and in the street, m the study of the open book and in conversation with the world, wherever I turned, there my victim would stare me in the face ; while from the distant rice-fields and sugar-planta- tions of the South his cries beneath the vindictive lash, his moans at the thought of Hberty once his, now, alas ! ravished away, would pursue me, repeating the tale of his fearful doom, and sounding, for ever sounding, in my ears, ' Thou art the man.' Ml. President, may no such voice fall on your soul or mine. Yes, Sir, here our duty is clear and paramount. While the blaye Uhgarchy, through its unrepealed Slave liill, undertakes to enslave our free soil, we can only turn for protection to a public oninion, worthy of a humane, just, and religious people, which shaU keep perpetual guard over the liberties of all within nur boruera ; nay, more, which, like the flaming sword of the che- rubim at the gates of Paradise, turning on every side, shall pre- vent any slave-hunter from ever setting foot on our sacred soil. 4 re-hunter er ; but I B between tim from lemselves lepresen- — cannot 'sible law 3 on the lous who rk. JN'or ill of sale '^as orig"!- te of the 1, he was i should I for all ; iple may ile it fills '. Hayes, take any orkeeper 3r by the er in the mg-odly. > salary, ler than broth er- r such a d in the on with stare me -planta- ish, his "avished il doom, le man.' ine. hile the takes to II public , which bin our he che- all pre- red soiU 4 4 Elsewhere he may pursue his human prey ; he may employ his congemal bloodhounds, and exult in L successfuf STbut into these domains of Freedom he must not come.^Tnd tWs pnbhc opinion, with liberty as its watchword, iTst procla m not only the overthrow of the Slave Bill, but a sX overthrow of the Slave Ohgarchy behind-the two pressing. dut^Is of X INorh essential to our own emancipation ; and beUeve me Sir "^^iH.^^^i '"™^^^ ""^«««> nothin/is done. ' '"' r..vJt''' V^'^^^""!' ^ar already have I trespassed upon your g-e- erous patience ; but there are other thing-s which still pr^s for utterance. Something would I say of thi arguments by which our Lnterpnse is commended ; something also of the appeal^ makes to men of every condition; and sLething also oTSn as a vital necessity, among all who love Freedom ' not ^,v °:r ''''* T"* "^ v^ '''"^ ^^ «°«^ accomplished. I know not. Sir, if you or I can hve to see in our repubhc the vows If the fathers at length fulfilled, as the last feLr fefs fLTthe hmbs of the last slave ; but one thing I do know ^3 all doubt or question, that this Enterprise must go on-thatTn f. irresistible current it will sweer, Schools, colle^ges churches t^^^^ SthTJ^wr^rT' '"^'^^ reh^ous^aspirationso^-the lana, while all who stand m its way or speak evil of it arp lav mg up lor their children, if not for them^selvesrlys o^^^^^^ and shame. Be ter to strive in this cause, even unsuccesslSjv than never to strive at all. ' unsuccessiuny, i« '-17'^T '" "^7^^P0" in the celestial armoury of truth, there IS no influence that ever rained from the skies, there is no ^e! oe employed. Ours, too, is the argument ahke of the conserva- tive and the reformer ; for our cause stands on the truest Z. serva ism and the truest reform. It seeks the coLel^ation of Freedom itself and of its kindred historic princX tt s^^^^^^^ also the reform of Slavery and of the kindred tvraXwwWeh It IS upheld. Religion, morals, justice, economy, the Con^titu tion, may each and all be invoked; and one peJson I touehed ^ one argument, while another person is touched by another You do not forget how Christoplher Columbus won Isabella of Spam to his enterprise of discovery. He first presented to bpr the temptation of extending her dominions Ke^^^^^^^^^^^^ not. He next promined toiler the dazzling wealth of the In- dies : and still she hearkened not. But when, at last, was pi^. tured to her pious imagination the poor heathei with souls to^ be saved then tlie youtht!il Queen poured her royaHewerinto the lap ol the Genoese adventurer, nnd nt l,«r..^4.!.*ll^: J"i i^^ was se^t forth wliich g.ive to Spaii^ and to m^J^dr^^w wc^' As in tlus Enterpnse there is a place for every argument so also is there a place for every man. Even as on the broad shield of Achilles, sculptured by divine art, was wrought every form of human activity, so in this cause, which is the very shield of Freedom, whatever man can do by deed or speech may find its place. One may act in one way, and another in another way, but all must act. Providence is felt through individuals ; the dropping of water wears away the rock ; and no man can be so humble or poor as to be excused from this work, while to all the hcmpy in fortune, genius, or fame, it makes a special appeal. Here is room for the strengfth of Luther and the sweet- ness of Melancthon, for the wisdom of age and the ardour of youth, for the judgment of the statesman and the eloquence of the orator, for the grace of the scholar and the aspiration of the poet, for the learning of the professor and the skill of the lawyer, for the exhortations of the preacher and the persuasion of the press, for the various energy of the citizen and the abounding sympathy of woman, " And still one thing more is needed, without which Hberty- loving men, and even their arguments, will fail in power — even as without charity all graces of knowledge, speech, and faith are said to profit nothing. I mean that uniti/ of spirit — in itself a fountain of strength— which, filling the people of the North, shall make them tread under foot past antipathies, decayed dis- sensions, and those irritating names which now exist only as the tattered ensigns of ancient strife. It is right to be taught by the enemy, and with their example before us, and their power brandished in our very faces we cannot hesitate. With them Slavery is made the main-spring of political life and the absorbing centre of political activity ; with them all differences are swallowed up by this one idea, as all other rods were swal- lowed up by the rod of Aaron. With them all unite to keep the National Government in base subjugation, and surely we shovld not do less for Freedom than they do for Slavery. WCj tooy must be united. Among us, at last, mutual criticism, crimina- tion, and feud must give place to mutual sympathy, trust, and alliance. Face to face against the Slave Oligarchy must be rallied the tnitkd masses of the North in compact pohtical association — planted on the everlasting base of justice — knit to- f ether by a common danger, and by the holy sympathies of umanity — enkindled by a love of Freedom, not only for them- selves, but for others — determined to emancii)ate the National Government from degrading thraldom — and constituting the BACKBONE PARTY, powerful m nuuibers, wtnilth, and intelli- iririg cause. Let this gence, but more powerful still ni an be done, and the victory will be ours uisp