Selections

Qr" The followmg address was adopted by the late New Engknd Anti-slavery Convention, and is to be presen ted to Mr Tyler at the great Bunker Hill celebration on the 17th instant. ADDRESS TO JOHN TYLER. With all the respect due to the President of the United States - with no intention or wish to give you any personal effront - but animated by he spirit oí hberty. which impels us to seek the emancipa:ion of all who are pining in slavery - we. the undersigned. inhabitants of New Englan'd, desire to improve the oppertunity presented by your visit to the metropolis of Massachusetts. to beseech you, in the sacred name of God, as an act of simple jjsticc. as aduty which you are solemnly bound to discharge, instantly to libérate all your slaves, and to restore to them those inalienable rights. of which they hove been unjustly deprived frotn their birth. 1 he existence of Slavery in this Republic is at war with all its principies and profeasions - a dark stnin on its character - a visible curse on its prosperity - a horrible anomaly. whicli subject the American people to tbc rebuke and opprobri urn of the oio! world - and a dangerons elemen in our mtional organizaron, the speedy remova of which is essential to the preservation oi the Union. It filis us with grief and shame as Ame rican citizens. We should deem ourselves unworthy of the naine. if wc did not seek lts im mcdiate annihiiation by every lawful and chris tian inslrumentality. Sir, yon are a slnveholder! Though you oc cupy the highcst office in the gift of the people yet you are a slaveholder! You 6ubscribcd to the Declararon of Independence. in which it i cxplicitly declared to bea self-evident truth. tha the Creator has given :o every human being an inalienable right to liherty: yet you are a slave holder! You hnve sworn to support the Consti tution of the United States, the design of which according to its preamble, is 'to establisli justic and secure the blessings of liberty' to the people yet you arca slaveholder! You profess to believc in theChristian religión, which requires thnt every man should Ipyo his neisrhborns himsrlf, on do t3 others what he would have them do to him vet you are a slaveholder! in your Message to Congness. you hnve denounced the African s-lave trade as piracy. and. consequcntly all who enslave Africans fis pirates; yet yon are a slaveholder! Yeu have come from Washington to Boston, expressly Uxjo'.a with a great mnltituue of your fcllow-countrynien in celebrating the completion of the Bunker Ilill monument, which hns been erected to commemmorate the heroic deeds and to perpetúate the memories of those who bied and (lied in the cause of human liberty; yet you are a slaveholder! Sir. we know not how [to manifest a deeper interest in your -welfae, a higher regard for your reputntion. or more fervent love for our country, than to nsk you to break the chalns of your slaves, and thus practically to acknowlcdge the riijhtsofman. Such a beneticent example,set bv yoü a as the Chief Magisirate of this great repubüc, would go far.very fnr.toward eflecting t'ie entire abolition of elavery, and, conseouently.the emancipation of nearly three millions of tho American people. h might subjict you, tcmporarily, to the ridicule of the heanless, the curses of the profane, the contempt of the vulgar, the scorn of the proud, the hatred of the brutal, the rage of the selfish, ihe hostility of the powerful; bui it wouïd assuredly secure to you the applause and admiration of the truly great and good, and render your name illustnous, to the latcst posten ty. In the name, then of justice and humanity - by the duty we all owe to the living God- we implore yon to libérate our bretheren. whom you hold in bondage. Done in Faneuil Hall, May 31, 1843.