surrender it. But surely the President of the New-York Tempenance Society does not regard property in human flesh and blood so much more sacred than property in rum, that while he is laboring to induce the owners of the latter, throughout the United States, to part with their property, he looks upon every man who tells his fellow-citizens that it is their duty to manumit their slaves, as violating the rights of property! The venders of ardent spirits in New-Orleans and elsewhere, have as valid and constitutional a title to their liquors as they have to their slaves. Now hear what Mr. Frelinghuysen says of a traffic expressly sanctioned by the laws of every State in the Union. "It is mere tampering with temptation to come short of positive, decided, and uncompromising opposition. We must not only resist, we must drive it. To stand on the defensive merely, is to aid in its triumph." 7th Rep. Am. Temp. Soc. p. 51. Yet they who by arguments, are resisting, or driving the traffic in the souls and bodies of men, are accused of "seeking to destroy our happy union!"

The State Legislatures have as much right to authorize lotteries, as they have to authorize slavery, yet the Pennsylvania Society for abolishing lotteries, is established for the avowed purpose of abolishing by moral influence, lotteries in other states, for there are none in its own. No objection is made to the constitutionality of that Society, yet epithets seem to be wanting to express the abhorrence felt for those who are aiming by the same means to rescue millions from a bondage destructive to their happiness in this world, and in that which is to come!

In the remarks we have made on the language used by Chancellor Walworth and his two associates, no unkind feelings have mingled. Not a suspicion of the goodness of their motives has crossed our mind; we admire them for their talents, and esteem them for their virtues; and sincerely do we regret, that men who possess the power of doing so much good, should ever, through want of information, so grievously misapply it.

And now it may be asked, if Abolitionists intend to use only moral means, what good can they effect by using those means at the North, where slavery does not exist? But although slavery does not exist at the North, it is excused and justified at the North; and Southern Christians are countenanced in keeping their fellow men in bondage and in ignorance, by their Northern brethren. We have already seen the baneful influ

ence of the Colonization Society on the treatment of the free negroes at the North; the Black Act of Connecticut is still in force, and Judge Daggett's decision remains unreversed. Slavery is in full vigor under the authority of Congress, and sanction. ed by a majority consisting of Northern members; and our whole country is disgraced, and humanity and religion outraged by an extensive and abominable slave trade, conducted under the same sanction. If, therefore, it could be foreseen, that no slave in any of the States would ever be liberated, through the influence of Northern Anti-Slavery Societies, there would still remain great and glorious objects to stimulate their zeal, to employ all their energies, and abundantly to reward all their labors. But neither their labors nor rewards will be confined to the North. The consciences of Southern Christians, so long lulled by the opiate of Colonization, are awakening to duty. Southern divines are beginning to acknowledge the sinfulness of slavery, and recent slave holders are now proclaiming the safety and duty of immediate emancipation.

While Northern Colonizationists are sounding the tocsin, and girding on their armour, and rushing to the battle, to protect the rights of their Southern brethren, those very brethren are beginning to listen to the friendly admonitions of Abolitionists, and are inquiring what they must do to escape the mighty perils to which they are exposed. On the 19th March, a convention of gentlemen from different parts of Kentucky assembled at Danville, and amid a slave population of 165,000, organized "THE KENTUCKY ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY Auxiliary to the American Anti-Slavery Society; and appointed a delegate to attend the anniversary of the parent Institution at New-York!

While the professors of many of our Northern Colleges are laboring with trembling solicitude, to stifle all discussion respecting slavery among their pupils, JAMES M. BUCHANAN, a professor of Centre College, has had the moral courage to accept the station of president of the Kentucky Society. Indeed, the whole nation has been roused from its lethargy, and in almost every circle and neighborhood, the subject of Abolition is attracting attention; the violence and persecution experienced by Abolitionists, instead of suppressing, has promoted discussion; and they have reason to hope, that slavery will ultimately be abolished, by the voluntary action of the South, in compliance with the dictates of policy and of duty.

CHAPTER VII.

SAFETY OF IMMEDIATE EMANCIPATION.

ALTHOUGH We may have succeeded in proving that the emancipation contemplated by Abolitionists, is not "unconstitutional," yet many may conscientiously doubt whether it would be safe and wise.

A few years only have elapsed, since the use of ardent spirits was universally countenanced by all classes of the community; and when the few who contended that their use was sinful, and ought to be immediately abandoned, were deemed no less visionary and fanatical than those are now who hold the same doctrine in regard to slavery.

The whole Colonization Society, with scarcely a solitary exception,* denounce immediate emancipation as dangerous, or rather as utterly ruinous, to the whites. Their objections were thus briefly summed up by the Rev. Dr. Hawkes, in his speech at a Colonization meeting in New-York:

"But if the plan of Colonization be abandoned, what remains? Are the slaves fitted for freedom? No-and if they are let loose at once, they must of necessity, to procure a living, either beg or steal, or destroy and displace the whites." New-York Com. Adv. 10th Oct. 1833.

Here we have broad unqualified assertions, without a particle of proof. We find it taken for granted, that if the slaves are at once restored to liberty, they must, from necessity, beg or steal, or destroy and displace the whites. What causes will produce this necessity, we are uninformed; why it will be impossible for liberated slaves to work for wages, is unexplained. Slavery is property in human beings. Immediate emancipation is therefore nothing more than the immediate cessation of this property. But how does this cessation of property imply that those who were the subjects of it must be "let loose?" Will they not, like other persons, be subject to the control of law, and responsible for their conduct? If incapable of providing for themselves, may they not like children, apprentices and

* The only exception known to the writer, is G. Smith, Esq.

paupers, be compelled to labor for their own maintenance? Immediate emancipation does not necessarily contemplate any relaxation of the restraints of government or morality; any admission to political rights, or improper exemption from compulsory labor. What then does such emancipation imply? It implies, that black men, being no longer property, will be capable of entering into the marriage state, and of exercising the rights, and enjoying the blessings of the conjugal and parental relations, it implies, that they will be entitled to the fruits of their honest industry-to the protection of the laws of the land, and to the privilege of securing a happy immortality, by learning and obeying the will of their Creator.

Now, it is almost universally supposed, that such emancipation would, as a matter of course, lead to insurrection, robbery and massacre. Yet this opinion will, on examination, be found utterly irreconcilable with the divine economy, the principles of human nature, and the testimony of experience.

It is a trite remark, that nations are punished and rewarded in this world, and individuals in the next; and both sacred and profane history will be searched in vain for an instance, in which the Supreme Ruler has permitted a nation to suffer for doing justice and loving mercy. To believe that God would permit any community to be destroyed, merely because it had ceased to do evil, is to call in question the equity of his government, or the power of his providence. Who that acknowledges the truth of Revelation, can doubt, that if slavery be sinful, the sooner we part with it, the more confidently may we rely on the divine favor and protection. Infidelity alone will seek safety in human counsels, when opposed to the divine will.

But the opinion we are considering, is no less at variance with the motives and passions of our common nature, than with the dictates of Christian faith.

What is the theory on which this opinion rests? Why, that cruelty, injustice and grievous oppression, render men quiet, docile, and inoffensive subjects; and that if delivered from this cruelty, injustice, and oppression, they will rob and murder their deliverers!

This theory is happily unsupported by any facts, and rests upon the simple dogma, that the slaves are not yet fitted for freedom. Now we would ask, what is meant by fitness for freedom? Ought a man to be a slave, unless he can read, write

and cipher? Must he be taught accounts, before he can re ceive wages? Should he understand law, before he enjoys its protection? Must he be instructed in morals, before he reads his Bible? If all these are pre-requisites for freedom, how and when are they to be acquired in slavery?

If one century of bondage has not produced this fitness, how many will? Are our slaves more fit now, than they were ten, twenty, fifty years ago? Let the history of slave legislation answer the inquiry. When the British government insisted that female slaves should no longer be flogged naked in the colonies, the Jamaica legislature replied, that it would be impossible to lay aside the practice " UNTIL the negro women have acquired more of the sense of shame, which distinguishes European females." Slaves, while such, will become fit for freedom as soon but not sooner, than negro women will become modest in consequence of the West-Indian mode of correction. No postponement of emancipation, will increase the fitness of slaves for freedom, and to wait for this fitness, resembles the conduct of the simpleton who loitered by the brook, expecting to pass dry shod, after the water had run off.

The conclusion to which religion and common sense would lead us on this subject, is most abundantly confirmed by experience. Passing by the emancipation of the Serfs of Europe, let us advert to various instances of the sudden abolition of negro slavery, and let us see how far the theory we are considering is supported by facts.

On the 10th October, 1811, the Congress of Chili, decreed that every child born after that day, should be free.

On the 9th April, 1812, the government of Buenos Ayres, ordered that every child born after 1st January, 1813, should be free.

On the 19th July, 1821, the Congress of Colombia passed an Act, emancipating all slaves, who had borne arms in favor of the Republic, and providing for the emancipation in eighteen years, of the whole slave population of 280,000.

On the 15th September, 1821, the government of Mexico granted instantaneous and unconditional emancipation to every slave.

On the 4th July, 1827, ten thousand slaves were emancipated in the State of New-York by act of the legislature.

In all these various instances, not one case of insurrection