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Slaveholding Always Sinful: To The Preachers Of The Gospel I...

Slaveholding Always Sinful: To The Preachers Of The Gospel I... image
Parent Issue
Day
6
Month
October
Year
1845
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Gentlemen: - Thia is dcdicated to you, inasmiitth os it is written chiefly for you. It is intended, for the most part, for intelligent and tirolltrained minds; thercfore il is but the suggestion of thougtits which lie stil! tnore expanded in tbc mind uf the aüthor. The atfthor does not believe that Slarery cun bc csmblislit-d by any la. It is out of ihe power of M ui, aJultery, murdar, prafaniiy would bo. No hiiman laV that rtiqüires me to fipeak irrcvorently of the Author of my exiarence, or to commitany of ths crimeB mentioned i ít the Decalogue, is of any biniling obligation. Siavery hae been Mi gi'., prevailing for a season against lhgltt. The strong nfid unprincipled have enslavtíd the wcak -nd lilf ft hns emascülated the former. Aff SfafeTy Is a si gn of weikncssin the nution that cherislies it, so it is 8 sign ofweakne83in the tribes tliat permit it. I will not withhold my strrprise (hat arry of you ulwuld still use the Öoolt of God's love to countenance the practice of Man's hate. Uk bas formed me, in nnme sort, to até IIim ns a God of Love, aa God of Jtïstice- at a Father, tender and kind, as o Governor, jv.ei and inflexible, lie has beslowed on me the facultk-8 of Love and Justice. They muet be like hisown. I must, thefefore.throw aside his characier.and the Hook wh:eh reveáis it,or I must llirow aside itsopposite. American Flavcry, "the sum of villanies." To maiiuain them hoth himpossiblev Which of tliern I hall throw aaide, I uuhtaitatingly have to you. That the folloviing Trnct mffy bc irsefol to you. is the best wish of u warm friernf oí yours, who vfho ha thought much on the stïbject, nlthough i,ebo A LA W Y KR. The queslion ta be (íetermined is, ïs Slatehoïding right in any circwnslances? 1 shaUappronch the subject without jrejodice, and dowhat I cou all coucerned to a right decisión. Lel us first determine hnt Slaveholding is; for why should we dispute aboirt ■rt-ords, ignoran! of Vhat oach other intends? Slaveholding is a p'ositive act. - Í say this iw oppsition to a negalive act li is the absohrte subj'ecfion of onewan being to the' will of another. It is not the voluntnfy going-out of the Wil! of another, seeking ö Master, to whom he may, theréaiteïy be" irrevocably ind tolally bul the sttbduing of thé will of nnother. This shows that something is to be donc The nVore bis Will be siïbdu'cd to-oct on the iíisírgntioí of mine; the better Slave he will mtifce. Slaveholding, is fherefore not tí. negative, but a positivo act:- a bringing under another's dominiofivby force, I say, ïry f orce. - for if requirea some application of forcér tasubdue the Will of another to conform p a'ny degree, termine. If there was no 8Iatfehoding, there would be no Slatcholderi if there was no Slaveïiolder, there woirld be na sttbdaing of ihe Will byforec. This farce is u'nlawful, too, because it is exerted contrary to the Will of him wha is to be enslaved, and who has a right to be consuhed.- ït, therefore, appeays to bc an act of unïawfal force JestrsChrist, when he saïd, "whatever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to themf}- spoke ta bis hearts nareveíafion It was what their Reason would requïre of them; for just so for as they respwted the rghits of others, their rights woold be respectedí no further. And, to this-day, this constitutes a good man. How far thi infïuences Savages to whom the Gospel; has never been preached, we may learn frornf tíymond. (Essays on the Principies of Morality, pp. 72, 73.) It is not pretended that this feeling exists, in the samo degree, in the unrefined Savage, as in the well-informed Christian; but that it does exist in all men aufficiently sírongly to be fermed a íaw of out nature- one be reasoned from. If I am right in this- f it be trae that Slavery attencted with force; that this forcO is unlawfulf that ta do to others as they should do unto us, is the kwthnt is comino to Human nature everywhere - that respect the rights of others is the only security for having our own respected-- then, have 1, already, to all impartial minds, fully made out my ease. If these thisgs be truc, Siaverycannot be right in its inception. And not being right in its inception, its subsequent continuancè Can never be right. - A wrong, originating ín a tresspass, itself constituting a can never become a right. A plea to ó'h Assault and Battery, that my intention was ónly to carry the party complaining into Slavery, would, before a Coürt aud jury unoontaminated with that system, avail me but little. But as it is not impartial minds on'y, that we have to convince, I wil! prosecute the inquiry a little further. Admah is a savage African chief. - He has about him, and under his control, one hundred warriors. He is running short of Rum, Tobacco and Balls. How shall he replenish his store? At that nr.oment a Christian slavetrader arrivés on the coast, we will suppose from Charleston, South Carolina. He is well supplied with the stores which Admah so much necds. Heinstigates him to adopt [he most summary method of supplying bis wants; to attack the village of his neighbor, Bolun, in he dead of the night, when the inmates are asleep and unsusbeding, and reduce as mnny of them as ie cah to Slavery. Admah follows hisadvice. He attackshis neighbor, Bolun. - Some fly in the dark, others resist by the light ofthéir birrning dweil ings. The decrepid and ifnmature he kills, When the slruggle is over, he findshiinself possessed of fifty strong men and women as Slaves. If, in thé mótning, hisheart should relent,- if he shóuld say, I will not bind you,- ï Vill repair, as far as I can, the injury Í have donc,and you need not fear nctunl or construciive vioTénCe being hereafter applied to youj his victims would no longer Üe sú'ch', bat fhey would af once go free'. But Admah does not so act. He appliêff chnins and fetters to their armsahd and makes hlsrcaptives his Slaves.Is Adtnah not here guiltv of forcé? Is t not unlawful? Admah has attacfc'ed them in the dead of th'é nightj ihèy viere his neighbors ; and they depended on his friendship for as a suflícient safeguard. AdrrtTrhv iñ (he best way he can, contri ves to ñiafee them unsuspicious of his intended assault.-Their not suspecting his friendship makes his assault on them the surer. In this there tvas forcé. His secret prepafations prove them to be unlawful, and his demeanor throughout the whole tranaction, is a violalion of the rule, written in his heari - "Ihou shalt do to others as you would that others should do unto you." It is plain, that' he would not change condifióhs with íiis captives. But Admah is not one of the pliant kind. He vhips oufof nis Captivos their sulkiness - dfives them bound to the seashore, and disposes of them for Rum, Tobacco and Balls, to the Christian Slavetrader. The Slave-trader purchases - what? Not the bodies alone of the Captives, because he has no use for them, and they are only on expense and encumbrance to him. He buys, besfde, the potter of the Priñce. The Prince retires, I with his warriors, from the fosition of force, and the Slave-1rader assumes il vtith the necessary band. The situation of the captives remains unchanged. He applies as much of actual force ascompels them to ascend the sides of his vessel, tina as mirch of construcíive forcé as keeps theñT cofiformed fo his ín fine, he applies jüst what Admaf did, though in a different form,- -at least' a competent degreê of force for his object.; which is keeping the captives in subjection tahim, That rt is a sysfem of force-unlaví'ful, of and prosecüted with an entire forgetfulness of the Golden Rule--may be easily tested. For, if tire Slave-trtrdéf were to feil them at this time, that they might go about their business; that they might no longer fear actual or constructivo force from him, or from any other quarter, they would at once, go free. In this way they are conveyed across the Atlantic to the city of Charleston. In the morning, one of the most intelligent Planters visitsthe ship, deairingto purchase the whole lot, that he may add them to his stock. He confers with the Slave-holder, and comes to an immediate agreement with him as to the price. Actual force-- the manacle-does net suit him. It does not consist with the business which he has for the cïipiives to do. After a certain manner, he sets them at large, but he has, at the same time, impressed upon them, that if tFrey claim the first right to which, as men and equals, they are entitled from him, there ttill be unitedagainst themy for the inftiction of actual force, or death if may be, all the whites, all the inteliigence, and all the arrns of the and H" rt be necessary, of other Stfates, and the General Government itself. Ho stepy into the shoes of theSlavc-tradcr,a3 thetrader has be foreste pp ed hito the shces of ihe A frican Prir.ce. So it s with the descendants of the Slave-holders, or of the purchasers from ihem in any succession. What, then, is the diflerence of guilt between these three charncters - the African Prince, the Slave-trader, and the Planter? They occupy precisely the same position with regard to the captives. There is none - except it be this; the African Prince is uulettèred: in bis mind the rule by whicli wegive to men all that we dernond of tliem, may be comparatively faint: the Slave-trader may have been brought up under the influences of Christianity, and this rule may be more clearly impressed upon him; whilst the Planter may be a memberofa Christian Church, and the rule perfectly familiar to him. If we measure guilt by intelligence, we must suppose the Planter the most guilty of the three. They all have exactly the same ! object, which is accomplished in the ' ast. Suppose, now, the treatment of the ' Captives to beas lenient ns it could be, consistently with the main object. Suppose the African Prince took them to the coast in the most humane manner he could; suppose that the Slave-trader had to administer to such as were sick, the same physician that ministered to him; and suppose the Planter had the best medical attendants that the city of Charleston could supply - would this alter the case1? We think not. Would it not be "doing evil that good may come?" Would it not be acting on the principie that the Protestants attribute to the Roman Catholics? Would it be right to wrest from them their liberty, that we might minister, to the extent of our humanity, to the cure of their bodily maladies? We will suppose, further, thal the Planter, from the impurest motives, has committed the crime of Arson - that, in the middle of the night, he has burnt outa. poor family, leaving tlie íather and mother, wiih several helpless children, the simplesf attire, to guard them ngainst tbe incleméñcy of the ne.xt morning; that at the sight of the misery hismalice has cccasioned, ú$ heart relents; that he takes them to his palacc; and fecds and clothes them, as the commonest humanity would1 feach hírti how to do; but that, nt thé end of the his good feelings abandon him, and he diámisses them. But before the next CrimirmrCóiïrt, his crime is discoveredj hé íáíndícl'ed and tried; bis plea is - not, tliat he did not orntn'n the crime of Arson, in i!s mosjt nggravated form- but that he fed and cloihed the family the next day. The Court and jury smile at the smplicity of his defence, and he is sent - with the npprobation of all - to the Penilentiary for the longest term1. Suppose, furlher, that a conductor has commkted the crime of kidnapping, at Albany, and bas deposited his victim, in a car by h'imself; suppose he cömmunicates the kno-wltedge of tbe fact to the next conductor, and he to next, and so on to the city of Buflalo. All these coxdüctors are guilty of the crime of kidnapping, and common sense declares them eJ'u'nlly sa The humane treatment of one of these conductora, though it may not screen him from the punishishment dtïe tohis ofTencej may give him favor Vith the jury. So, of Slavery; i; we could try for sucb ofFences, the A frican Prince, the Slave-irnder, nnd the Planter, being tried' (ogethcr, tney woiïld be lound guilty of the offence with which they were charg'ed, while the distinguished humanity of one of them might obtain for hirrr some of his punishment. In order that it lïiny be even more fully seeii, how prone the slaveholder ia to praélice principies whiöh he proessedly renets, and how liabie his supporters aro to odmit "evil that good may come," I will take the case of the Rev. Thomas S. Clay, a Presbyterian minister of Georgin. I take his case the more willingly, becanse it is duly authcnticated before the World, and becaute it givca the ulavcholders all the advantages Which they claim in the preserrtatiorr of i'. Mr. Clay is san! to be an cducaled and accompl6hed man - his wife. his peor - and the daughters worthy of them both. The law of Georgia prohibits the teuching of Sla ves, whilet the Liw of Chrisi, promulgated ly hnireelf, enjoins cm every man to "seoreh'the Scrrpttfrcs. But Mr. Clay is a law-abiding man. He obeys tbe luw of Christ, as far as K is eonvenient for him to do so, nnd then he obeys the lnw of Georgia. So, also.he instrocts his wife and daughters, who, it is soid assiBt him in impressrnjj orally,onhis slavrs,religious trnth i w woirfd do no injustice to Mr. Clajv and it might be doing him injnstice, were we to 6ayy tbat ihe Legrslature of Georgia in nctin j as they did, intendcd to aid him. Mr. Clay's system wants rra such aid. Is it saying too much ofbim-, then, that his uv6tein ie not,m itself what he would approve, but is made to acconrraodnte' itself to the gen eral syster of slavery throughout the State? Under thEe circunjatanceB, Mr. Clay sold his slaves. His wife and his dafcghters mstruct their slaves according to the laws of Qeorgio. One óflbeso elave, hc moet intglligeot of them-even with tltis instruction, is brought'to see, tlmt he s the subject of a righteous Governor, of a kind Father ready toforgive. He feels i within him his immorïal destiny, and that t ! cannot be satiffied, unleas he preach Salva - tion to his neglected fellow slavee. He, al ' firat, begin9 with those who nre immedinlely around him. They catcli the contagión, for I so the Slaveho'ders themselves would cali it. j They ere fired with the new views which he presents to tlieir minds. Each one ed as the circmnstanccs will admit of, is ready to go forth, as a Misiona ry, to en kind Ie, in ; the minda of his down trodden caste the same loriou8 ideop. The leader is remonstrated wil h, tie offers Ihem the best tecurity, that he will ' ijive all hia time to preaching to his fellow i men. But this will not do. His conduct is t unexceptionable. Mr. Clny is brought, } =elf. to be among the remonstrants. His wife s ind daughters beseecii, by the most sacred tieo, that can subsist, bet ween them und him ; whou they have instructed, that he would de f sist. He ia inflexible. He no longer feels 'I limself a Slave, but in the bonds with which ( ïis fello'.v-men have bound him. He is the f ervant of God, and feels it his obligatiun, his c inty, his delight to du the will of his t y Fall.er. He is now qualified to make f known to those whom theavarice of mnn ha? ' averlooked, the "glad tidings," which, by l sus Christ, Hk has eent to tliem. He burns to l doit. Bul Slavery becomes more obdurate in ' its demande. It has extended. A greater ' ber of persons become interested in it. lts ' laws, like the EternaFs laws, are not always ' right. They shift - they chnnge - the whites ' decrease- the slavesincrcnse. The laws become more stringent- -the Slaveholders more vigilant. Their neecssitiies, they 6ay, oülige them to it. Mr. Clay is, already, in the South. It would be hard f o give up that estáte which distinguished him and his. He becomes a defender of the increaeed rigor of the Uw. What was right to-day, becomes wrong to-morrow. He goes down the cnrrent, with cruel Slaveholders. Heaccornmodates his own syetem to theirs. He extinguisheslighl which he had enkindled in thebreosts of them whom he had inslructed. He is determined to have Slavery. Slavery he hae bul he must have it without the bno of ihe Lord. Is this an adeqnate equivalent? IIe8ve it to y ou to determine. Yet such is the delusivenesu of the system, that Ihe Rev. Air. Clay thinks he is embra uing jocl's lawá, which are tmmutablt, wben he is embrncing only the laws of Georgia, which are mutable; whilst he is embracing the law of the Lord, rich wih mercies towards all mankind, he is only embracing Slavery, dfcfiled with miseries to all the human race that have any connection with it. Is mt this accredited minister of Christ doing "evil that good may come?" Is he hot declariog to the world, that, as long as you treat your slaves accnding to the law of Georgia, jou are safe, as long as you trea'. your felluw -men, accordinjr to the laws of God, ye are undone? Is he not declaring to the fraternizing Slaveholders of the South- we will keep the laws of Georgia sirictly. but the law of tñe Lord, as well as tec cani But ns we have been a Slaveboíding hation for more than two hnndred years, and ae therefore the principal case, and ils kindred ones may créate prejudice in the minds of i some, I will take another. A' fóot-pad in tïie neijfhborhood of Liverpool, has succeeded so well, as to establish iiis store in ihut town. AU the articles thnt compose it, are taken in the strjct exercise of hi.i projessional árl. He has his Ships trading regulurJy to New York Thé Cnptain of the Ship, and his 6iipercargo, if he hns one, is well acquainled wiih the manner in which thefoot-pad canie inta thé poöséssion of the goods. So are thu pnrchasers at New York, and elácwhere through the country. It so hnppen., that as soon as the goods are open ed in this country, the names and ptrsons of the respective owners become perfeetly authenticated. This is the case throiigh whatever numbér of hands they have passed, and remains unchanged. Öi' this, on no hand, is there any doubt. Now supposo the owners were to hecome apprised of t his fact: to ship ihemselves for Uiis country, and make clnim to their respective pareéis, into whose hamk soevcr tliey may nnve fallen. Recollect, on no hand is there any doubt, of the persons making this claim. They are, to a)l ntentand purposes, the owners of the pareéis, and are so recognized. Wonld not the cominonest justice lead each holder of a parcel, to render it to thé proper owners again? Certairrly il wmild. This is undrniable. But suppose e ach holder refuses to'give up the goods, does hc not ussociale riimself in point of guill, with the original foot-pad? By the Jatter, thegoodá were obtained, to be ven ded in the United Stafcpe: by the Captain and supercargo. the mannei irt which thefoot-pnd obtained the poods is perfeetly well known; the peopïe of New York and the surrounding country, were ignora nt, nt first, of the owners of the goods: their names and description wee perfect ly made known to them in the opening of the pareéis. So that on the score of knowing, they stood on ttoe estrte foolin with the foot-pad, and the Captain,and supercargo of the Veasel, and they must etand their etjuals in guilt. Tbc muuicipal law of England, may punish the foot-pad in one wcy, and the Captain,only the receiverof the stolen property, ;n a very different way. The laws of New íork, ant! the otter States iri which the goöds nre sold, may diner vêry widely from the laws of England'. For the wisest municipal the püniahmerit of the rhree, may be 7ory difTefent. Bul thw does not nflect our (Juestional all. We are deciding ■ on guilt before a tíibunal which we have not j estebüshed - whicb w cannot aalitb - jnd iwhich is affected only by the knowiedgeof tf.e psrties. They oil eqully know the deeiination of the goods, they re ngents in the same Iransaction, though at different parta of it. [f tlie foot pad is guilty, so are the other parlies. I must not otnit here an nnswer to o case, jecnnse it is thought unanswerable. If th trindplea be true, which I enduavored at the utset to establish, not much time will hc ronsnmed with it. It is this: A Slfivrholdrr Hes m the City of Charleston, and leaves a jalrimony of one hundred slaves to his only ion. Is it not the duty of the fm to exerctse iets of ownership, for which the laws of the State have provided? We hnve bpfore said hat Sluve holding waa a positive, not a negaive act. We fully believe this to be true. irVithont a SI q ve -Kolder there would be no ilave. Without a svbduing of the wil!, there vould be no holding. Without somehingr heingr done by the stronger and more un irincipled party, nothing would be done. - I'hings would remain ao rhey ai e. Now, if hese remarks be tiue, and they are jet to be iroved false, thequestion lies in a very fnial! otnpass. The yiung man may have nothing o do with the transaction. He may not takc lotice of it at all. He would nnt be the 51ave-ioder. Who would? The State, if ü a the next enccessor - or whosoever becomes he holder of the Slaves. If the young man i.nd the State were lo say to thtí Slave, we ivill have nothing to do with you, by the lawe jf South Carolina, thpy would go free. In Lhis ca6e there would be no Slaveholding in the cuestión. But,supposing the young man have imposrd on him, becanse of his residence in South Carolma, certoin dulies to ihe colored people, he muat go to one of ihe tree StaVes, where they cannot pursue him with thia respon6Íbility. The law-makers tave driven him ont of Soutl Carolina, and there is no help for it. I here do not at all rugue thecnnsUtutionality oí sucha mensure. But Eiipposing him - which seemsby far tlie strongesl ( caso, lo use tl.e State luws, in taking thero to s anothe'r State. He is no Slaveholder, because the net he is doing, is by their consent. ' and for their gondj not for bis own good, as a ' Slaveholder. ff any of thera refuse to ' pany him, after he hasáuly put before t hem the whole case, he can do n more. The first ' mompnt thnt he puts forth art' act of j 'ure e, that ' momen'. he becomes a Slaveholder. Every act of f orce, without crime to the State is ' unlatcful, and therefore, criminar before the Highest tribunal. Lest thee cmy nol have been an'rrbúnced, with sufïicient precisión, the tests which have been applied to the above case?, nnd which, it is thouht, will remove all doubt as to Slavery, I beg leave to furnish them to you with still greater prominence. VVhenever Rev. Thorms S. Clay, for instance, gives to the Slavr what he could with the same propriety give to his kqcals in fiociety, (exempli gratiti, good clothe, comfortable lodging, plenty of provisión nnd the like,) it has nothing to do with Slavery. This poes not anv part of the way in rnaking up the Slarekolder. All Slavehoiders are not alike.- VVhilst they are all to be cordeinned for Sbveholding, some of thern" are comparatively kind and humane - some are unprincipled and eevere. The Jatter is the germine product of ihesystemf. Whifst we would notcondimn though it appears in ite coarsRbt tbrm, we would think it equally urnvise, o make its exhibition a fuil excuse for the Crime with whrch it is uearly connected. This is the first rule. The second rule is like it. Whenevpr the Rev. Thomas S. Clay inflicts on his Slave. what he cannut inflict on his EqüAL in society, (Tor e . ampie, trial for an impiited offence, by la vs made especia llv for him and others like tiim - the forcible sepa rat ion of children - of husbands- of wives- the being drien inlo the field, nnd made to work without wages, kc.) ther is Slavbrt. It wil! hot do for us to mix up the bad acts of thé strongand unprincipled, with the comparolively good acts of tbc humane - ihose acts which may be done 10 the slave and the freeman alike-aná bapliz? the whole as good. This wotild be weakness without any excuse. If you can fiud mo one act, which properly gues to luaice up the Slavbholdhk, I wijl, at the same time,show you one of Jorce - one of vnlawjtïl violence - one which regurds not the law of mun's nature, "thou sbalt do unto others as ye xvould have them do unlo you.""The Bare-footed Printer Boy."- The Pittsburgh "Morning Ariel," under this caption, gives a short history of Gen. Cameron, who some thirty years ago.barefooted, with all his worldly effects iied up in a little cotton handkerchief, arrived at the capital of Pennsylvanta, seeking a place as prinier's apprentice; and who has risen, by successive gradations, to a seat in the ü. S. Senate. K our brother Tobcy, who so abiy conducts the Ariel, wero not too modfcst, he might teil of anther "printer boy," vho sorn'e eght er ten years ngo, arrived at fhe aforemen:ioned capital in about (he samo plight xnd who is nlready solé editor of oue of he first daily paprs in PennsylVania.-

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Signal of Liberty
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