The Liberator from Boston, Massachusetts • Page 1

LETTER or IIOJV. J. G. HIRJVEY. from tho Lexington (Ky.) Intelligencer of July 22.

the Jiev. Thorsioj J. Mills, Grres-ponding Secretary of the Kentucky izalion Society. Sir, At the annual meeting of the Kentucky Colonization Society' in January last, it pleascJ the members to elect me one ol' its Vice Presidents. I am by no means, intensive to the favorable opinion, which placed me in company with such able and honorable associates But I should be unworthy of it, and wanting1 in respect to the officers and members, did I not frankly avow, that my opinions of colonization, in some of its most essential features, have undergone a change, so great, as to make it imperative on nic, no longer to give to the enterprize that support and favor which are justly expected from all connected with it, In leaving my station, it is due to the gentlemen with whom I have been associated as well as to myself that I should at least, give some of the reasons which have persuaded me to this course.

That all the grounds necessary for an impartial and intelligent judgment may be exhibited, I think it not unimportant to state, thoogh very briefly, the relation in which I have, tor many years, stood to the cause of colonization. Although a native of Kentucky, I resided for fifteen years previously to last autumn, in the state of Alabama. It was in the year not very long after the publication of the African Repository was begun, at a time when little had been said, at least, in the West and South-west, on the subject of colonization, that it first arrested my attention. I considered it, and I doubt not, by very many of thoso who gave it their early support, it was intended, as a scheme of benevolence to the. whole colored population, and as a germ of effort capable of expansion adequate to our largest necessities in the extermination of slavery.

It was on the 4th of July of this year, that, uniting my own to the contributions or other gentlemen and ladies privately solicited by myself, I was enabled to send on to the Treasurer of the 'American Colonization Society' the first.collection of money, so far as my information extends, that was made for its purposes in Huntsville, the place of my residence. If I remember accurately, collections were afterwards taken up, and the subject presented to the congregation from the pulpit for several successive fourths of July, ia the church I attended. In the summer of 1832, I received from the Secretary of the American Colonization Society, a letter announcing to me, my appointment as its General Agent for the district composed of Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas. The compensation to be received for my services, though far inferior to the avails of my professional labors, was altogether liberal. It was, indeed, as much as I would have demanded, in the existing state of the Society's means, had it been left to me to fix the amount After taking such time as I thought neces-sary for deliberation in a matter so nearly touching my private interest against the advice of nearly all my friends, I consented to undertake the.

agency; so strongly was I impelled by the belief, that it was a' great work of philanthropy to which I was sum moned, and that it could even in the South, "be conducted to eminent success especially when undertaken by one of her own citizens (himself from boyhood a. slaveholder) who could bring to the aid of prudence and a sound character only moderate qualifications of talent and address. The claims of colonization I presented very full at nearly ail the important points in the district assigned me, with a zeal that was unchecked by ordinary obstacles, and with a success, disproportioned to be sure, to the sanguine expectations with which I had set out, but net perhaps to the genuine merits of the cause. I have thought proper, thus, very cursorily, to refer to the circumstances mentioned above, not only to show, that I have been in a situation affording good opportunities to jutge of the operation of the principles upon which colonization has been recommended and urged upon the public mind, but that I have been habitually friend ly to it zealous in promoting its success, tod therefore inclined to indulge toward it favorable judgment. It might not, however, be improper to add, that Mr.

Polk of Washington, arrived in Huntsville, as Agent of the American Colonization Society, in the end of le2U. Alter be had consulted with several of tiie must intelligent and philanthropic gentlemen ol the place, together with myself, it was determined upon, in order to embody and excite to activity so much of public sentiment as might be found favorable, to attempt the organization of an auxiliary Colonization Society. In this effort successful beyond hat. had been looked for I gave sucn aid I was capable of giving, by an address to the assembly favorable to the proposition. The Society thus organized, contained within it the very best materials ttie place afforded, and its reception by the community was, i first, encouraging beyond expectation.

This was the first instance of direct action in the South, for the benefit of any part of the colored population, of which I then a personal knowledge. I was greatly encouraged at the favorable aspect of things on this, the first trial, for it was made iu a town where, considering its size, there is unusual concentration of intelligence, and iu the very midst of a population numbering a majority of blacks. At that time. 1 belmvpd. there was in the project so much of a vivifying spirit, that to ensure success it was only necessary for the people of the South onre to become interested in it that, there was it so much of the energy of life, that it required nothing more than once to be set on foot, to put beyond all question its continu-nce and growth.

As auxiliary to the impulses of benevolence, I calculated upon the tdfish advantages to the South. These, I thought, could bo so clearly and powerfully exhibited, that there would "be none to gain-y or resist, and that, by the union of benevolence and selfishness, the co-operation of the whole South might be secured. I unhesitatingly declare, that the total incongra-rty of these two principles did not strike my ttmd, as it has done, since I witnessed their "sociable and mutually destructive energy. Of the truth of this remark, the IlunUvflle Society will furnish good evidence for notwithstanding its auspicious beginning, and aj exc'lcment eloquent and animating ddresses, delivered, at different times, by gentlemen 0f distinguished ability, it never efficient its excitability wore awav as age, and it protracted a lan- fuuaing existence until last autumn, when. Pprcbcnd, it terminated its being, except IV.

BOSTOIV, MASSACHUSETTS, Other instances might be given tending to confirm the same remark. Mr. Polk succeeded, under the most eucouragiug circumstances, in organizing a State Society, at Tuscaloosa, the seat of government. It was whilst the Supreme Court, and the legislature of the Slate were in session. The must conspicuous gentlemen members of the bar, ueuch, and of the general assembly became members, and very many of them, if I in is Lake nut, Lite Meuiuers.

This Society, a year afterwards, held its regular meeting, 'i lie proceedings were somewhat of a dissen-Uous, not to say disorderly character It never met agaiu. In 163i, I made an attempt, in the prosecution of uiy agency, to revise it, but its vitality was thoroughly expended. in as in Alabama, a coloni zation society had been formed a tew years ago, consisting of more than eighty members and including in that number many gentlemen ol the highest distinction for private worth, intelligence and public influence iu the State. When I was there, last year, it was with great difficulty that some hall dozen members could be assembled to transact any business connected with the advancement of the cause the expedition for Liberia just on the eve of sailing trom that port, produced no. friendly excitement; tho vesel Ajax carrying out one hundred and tiliy emigrants was permitted to loose from the levee, with no effort by the friends of colonization there, to produce the least throb of sympathy in the public mind; and a city meeting of which due notice had been care- fully given, failed utterly in consequence of tne ausence or me iears ox genueuieu wuo had promised tparticipate in the public exercises.

I mention the institution of the society at Huntsville, and itsdccline, not for the purpose of giving its history as a matter of interest in itself, nor solely with the view of shewing my friendly disposition towards colonization, but as an instance (to which the condition of the others mentioned, as well as tiiat of all the smaller societies throughout the region in which I acted, might be added,) falling under my own observation, tending to demonstrate the truth of a proposition, that every day's experience is making more palpable to my mind, that, there is not in colonization 4 any principle, or quality, or constituent substance filed so to tell upon the hearts and minds of men as to ensure continued and persevering action. If there be the connexion supposed, between the facts introduced above, and the proposition just stated, may 1 not ask you, sir, if the little that has been done for colonization by our own State, where years ago, it was welcomed with open arms, and within whose limits I could not state from personal knowledge, that it has a single enemy and the present crippled and umnoving condition of numerous societies, auxiliary to that whose correspondence you so ably conduct, do not furnish testimony very powerful, if not irresistible, that the whole matter has not in it any principle exciting to strenuous, to continuous action In stating the objections that exist iu my mind to colonization, I wish it to be understood distinctly at the outset, that I do not, in the slightest degree, impute to the benevolent individuals by whom it was originated, or even to a large majority of those by whom it is still warmly cherished, any unworthy motive as prompting their zeal. Whilst 1 verv cheerfully attribute to this ma jority stainless purity of motive in what they have done, and are doing and further, a strong persuasion, that it is the only means of rescue from the polluting and crushing folds of slavery I should be insincere, were I not to state my belief, that, colonization, if not supported, is not objected to, by many a keen sighted slaveholder in the abstract, who has perspicacity enough to discern, that the dark system in which he has involved himself, his posterity and their interests, will remain, as unaffected by it, as mid-ocean by the discharge of a pop gun on the beach. Nor do I intend to be understood, as making any objection to the purpose of the American Colonization Society, as express ed in its constitution, to promote a plan for colonizing (with their conseny the free people of color residing in our country, in Africa, or such other place as Congress may deem most If its operations be limited to the gratification of an intelligent wish, on tha part of the free people of color, or any other class ot our population, to re move to Africa, with the view of establishing a colony for the prosecution of an honest commerce, or for any lawful purpose whatever, there could exist, so far as I can see, no reasonable ground of opposition, any more than to the migration, that is now in progress, of crowds of our fellow citizens to Texas or any other part of Mexico. If, on the other hand, it is meant, that this 'consent' may lawfully be obtained by the imposition of civil disabilities, disfranchisement, exclusion Irom sympathy; by making the free colored man the victim of a relentless proscription, prejudice and scorn by rejecting altogether his oath in Courts of Justice, thus leaving his property, his person, his wife, his children, and ail that Cod has by his very constitution made dear to liim, unprotected from the outrage and insult of every unfeeling tyrant, it becomes a solemn farce, it is the refinement of inhumanity, a mockery of all mercy, it is cruel, unmanly, and meriting the just indignation of every American, and of the noble nation mai oears nis name.

To say that the expression of 'consent' thus exhorted is the approbation of the mind, is as preposterous as to affirm that a man consents to surrender his purse, on tne conuiuon that vou spare his life, or, to be transported to "Botany Bay, when the hand of despotism is ready to stab him to the neari. Now, if the Colonization Society has done ia doing this if it has succeeded in bring- horses TV' la OUR COT7I7TR? IS THE WOIILD-OUR in? around it, the learned influential; if by the mul of favoring legislatures, of ecclesiastical bod ies, with their hundred conventions," assemblies, conferences, and associations, it has so far exalted itself into the high places of public sentiment, as itself, to constitute public sentiment; if it has acquired great autiiority over the mind of this people, and uses it to encourage, and not check this heartless and grinding oppression if, instead of pleading lor mercy to the weak and helpless, it sanctities the most open and crusiiuig injustice, or even couuives at it, by urging the necessity of colonization upon the ahedged ground of the immutability of this state 01 tilings for the perpetuation of which it is lending ail its influence it, 1 say, it haa done this, its unsoundness, its foulness cannot be too soon, or too fully exposed, that the just sentence of condemnation may be passed upon it by every good mau and patriot of the land. he also, in the progress of its development, it throws itself before the public, as the ouiy effectual aud appropriate remedy for slavery, demanding upon tliat ground, ot the whole country a monopoly of its support, it is objectionable, as seems to me, because of the principles upon which it is pressed upon the attention of the community, because of titeir practical results, and of me utter inadequacy of colonization, whilst in connection with these principles, to the extinguishment of slavery. In order, that the objections may be more distinctly exhibited, they will be arranged under the several general heads of 1. ihe practical influence ot colonization upon the whiles.

2. Upon the colored population; and 3. Upon Africa. i. The practical influence of colonization upon the whites.

All great revolutions of sentiment in masses of men, calling, of course, for a corresponding change of action, must lay their foundation in some great principle (or principles) undeniably tiue iu theory which all the facts pertaining to it, when taken singly lend to prove, and when taken together, fully establish as true, to all unprejudiced minds. Thus in religion the great truth man's entire alienation from Cod is the only one that has ever been used successfully, to make men feel their need of the remedy proposed by the gospel. All paring away, or attenuation of this truth, has, I irpprehemi, been attended with a cor responding inefiicacy in the application of the remedy, and, simply on this ground that the various phases, and conditions, and circumstances of man's moral malady, tend individually, to indicate this truth and no other, and in the aggregate to establish it. The progress of the temperance cause will supply another illustration of this position. The great truth here was that Alcohol taken in any quantity and in proportion to that quantity, is injurious to persons in health.

Many attempts at public reformation had been made in former times, on the diluted principle, that alcohol is injurious only when taken immoderately. They were all, unsuccessful. When the total exclusion from ordinary use, of ardent spirits, was insisted upon and a nearer approach to the true prin ciple was made, there followed a proportion ate success so great, indeed, as to entitle the change effected in the habits of the nation to the name of But, I doubt not, if it is to be made still more thorough, or even to be held at its present state of tension, a resort to the true principle ot entire abstinence trom every tiling alcoholic will be found necessary. Again, Sir, What was the great truth, or principle, upon which the American Revo lution was supported Was it any other than this, that 'all men are created equal i' 1 his was the trunk throwing out towards heaven its noble branches, 'that they are en dowed by their Creator, icith the inalienable rigUs to life, liberty and the pursuit of hap piness. 1 ou, 1 am sure, ir, do not believe, that this principle, had it sunered the least adulteration, would have been sufficiently vivifying to produce the great revolution that it did produce, in our condition or, that had it been polluted by the smallest ingredient recognizing as true, the right of one mau to reign over his fellow men, for his oicn and not their benefit or that a knot of nobility were entitled to privileges independently of merit; or that men might justly be compelled to worship God in a way which did violence to their consciences or, that in tine, had the least particle of impure leaven been kneaded into the elevating declaration of! man's equality, it would have retained that iudiitructible vigor, which is, this moment, at work, undermining the foundation of every tyrant's throne on earth.

Whatever of truth there may ba in the foregoing remarks, I wish to apply to the subject before us; to the attempt to show, that the principles on which colonization is recommended to the nation, are unsound, imperfect and repugnant Therefore, that they will not, nay cannot, so long as. man's nature remains as it is, operate efficiently in producing a revolution in our present habits so great as to extinguish slavery. The very nature of mind, confirmed by all observation, proves the correctness of this remark, that, when men are lo be moved from their present position still further on, in a line trith their habits or prejudices or passions, a false principle may be altogether adequate, but when in opposition to them, the principle on which action is demanded must be founded in the nature of things it must be truth. Now the grounds upon which colonization has asked for favor from the people of the United Stjites, are mainly these. 1.

That slavery, as it is, in our country, is justifiable, or that immediate emancipation is out of the question, n. 1 nat tne iree coiorea people 1 are, of all classes in the community, the most nnnoyincr to the most hopeless, de graded, vicious and unhappy, and that, therefore 3. We ought, in the exercise of a the religious, the resolutions 1 COUNTH YMEIJ ARE ALL sound policy for ourselves, and from sympa-Itiplied tiiy with these people, to remove them to Africa, where the causes ot their degradation, vice, and misery will not follow them. 4. That we shall, in sending them to Liberia, by theirj instrumentality in civilizing and christianizing Africa, pay in some measure the we owe to that continent for the mighty trespass we have committed upon her.

Here we see a strange mixture ot true principles, with others that are utterly false. No oneA'ill controvert, for a moment, the position that we ought to feel sympathy, aye, even to weeping, with that poor and defenceless' class among us, whose degradation and misery originated in the avarice and pride of our ancestors, and have been kept alive by the same active passions in us their descendants. 'Nor will it be more disputed, when it is remembered, that we have not been the least efficient of the parties in the great confederacy made up of Pagan and Mahomedan, Catholic and Protestant, Christian and Infidel, that' has torn from Africa more than FORTY MILLIONS of her sons and daughters, consigning the 111 to hopeless and cruel bondage so cruel, so hopeless, that there remains not to this day, of that vast number, more than one fourth, after taking into the account all their natural increase. I repeat, when this is remembered in all its flagrancy, no one will deny that we owe to that ill-fated people a debt of frightful amount. Uut these true principles, founded in sympathy with the injured, and in a desire to repay what justice demands; tending too, in their fair and unobstructed influence, to the annihilation of slavery, are adulterated, rendered ineffectual, by being mixed up with others that are, in my view, totally false and unsound viz.

that it is a law of necessity that the free colored people should forever remain degraded and unhappy whilst they continue among us, and, that it is lawful, right, just before God and man, in certain cases, in existing which circumstances the wrong-doer3 are the exclusive judges,) to hold our fellow man as property. So far from this compound operating to. tho exter mination ot slavery, it is all that the veriest slaveholder in the abstract (if there be such a thing) asks make to him but this concession, admit but this single ingredient, that, in prescMtjircn instances, he may hold his fel low-creature as property, and you mav make up the remainder of the mass with whatever ingredients best suit your feelings or your tancy you may thunder away with your colonization and gradual emancipation speeches 'until the winds do crack their he feels easy and unconcerned, knowing, that his interests are under convoy of a false principle, powerful in its influence, and overmastering, when running, as it does here, coincident with habits, and prejudices, and passions. Let us suppose, for a moment, what would be the probable train of coursing through the mind of a slaveholder, whose conscience had been somewhat aroused and was on the eve of healthful pulsations, after having heard one of our most ingenious and eloquent colonization speeches Tis true, God has said he has made of one blood all nations of men that he has required of us at all times, to do justice and love mercy and, in the history of the good Samaritan, has taught us that all men are our neighbors He lias enjoined upon us love to our neighbor as to ourselves, a love that icorkrth no ill to him, and whatsoever tee would that men should do unto us, we should so do unto tnem. It is further true, that God has declared himself the avenger of the poor and the oppressed, and that he has hitherto, inseparably connected with slavery, the corruption and effeminacy of the enslavers that he has brought upon all nations who have persisted in it, judgments aesoiating anu awtui, and given to the oppressed, triumph in the land, that has looked upon their sufferings and degra dation.

I remember, too, that the Fathers of our country when contending against tyr- annv, declared in the most solemn manner, that all men are created equal, that their right to life, liberty and.the pursuit ot happiness is a truth that has been evolved, not from a complicated train of premises, but, that it is and, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to life, and interferes unnecessarily with our pursuit of happiness, it is the right of the oppressed to abolish it. But what do I now hear, from statesmen, orators, politicians, doctors of law, and doctors of divinity, in fine, from men, whom the whole country delight to honor for their intelligence, patriotism and religion, and who know much more of this delicate subject than ldo? With one consent, they say in substance, that we are not under obligation, noir, to do unto others as we would they should do unto us; or if we are, our slaves whose lot has been ordered by God himself so much below ours, cannot certainly be included in the number to whom this obligation is due; that all men are not created equal in as much as some are authorized, nay required, under existing circumstances, to withhold from others their liberty, to block up every avenue to their happiness, to abridge th-ir lives by reducing them to slavery, and inflicting upon them all its concomitant enormities. Or if men are created equal, education, and the influences under which their character has been formed, have made them unequal therefore, if there be found a large number of our fellow-men reduced to this inequality, sunk into the low grounds of slavery, and suffering its hope destroying sorrows, they must be there detained for the present' 1 as things now are' until they can be gradually prepared it may be, after some half dozen generations have gone to their eternal home for their safe transfer from the suffocating feculence of slavery to the pure aud health-giving air of the high-grouads of freedom. And in reference to XtXAirilXXID. IJO.

33. SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 1S34. slavery itself, I hear it said however hate ful, and wicked, and deserving of the execration of vvery gentleman and christian, it may be, tn fAe abstract, however sinful our remote ancestors may have been in suffering it to be tmjfosed 011 them, and the intervening generations in continuing it, yet, in the process by which it has beeu transmitted down to us, notwithstanding its victims have been multiplied to MILLIONS, and cries, and tears, and curses, have in unbroken mass, ascended, day and night, to God's throne, it nas been punned from all its guilt and injus tice, ana we noir, instead ot rebuke andcen sure, deserve somewhat, at least, cf svmna thy and praise lor with so much patience, to the evil of keeping our loaded with the chains and fetters of interminable bondage. And am I not further told, that the free colored people of our country are the most degraded and unhappy class of the commu nity is it not continually asserted, and I begin almost to believe it, that our slaves are in a better condition, more happy, and con 1 -1 1 11-. leniea man uiey vv ouiu it not then be a great departure from the law of love, a want ot charity to my trusty slave, whose fathers served mine, and who is now faithfully serv ing me, to release him from bondage, and Destow upon mm mat ireedom which must degrade him from his present comparatively enviable caste, and consign him to one in which he and all his posterity must forever remain miserable Now in all this conflict of old truths, of the truths of God's word, and of our government, with the prevailing and popular commentaries upon them, what shall 1 dor Ihis 1 will do To say the least of it, it is a 'delicate question it has intrinsic difficulties, therefore I ought to let it alone.

My oicn case is a peculiar one I am in circumstances of which no one is qual- -11 inea, or nas or uns 1 am pretty sure) author-liy to judge except myself. These may and probably will continue unchanged during my nie, anu, lor augnt mat appears, they may remain 'present circumstances' to my great, great grand children and thus they, too, may enjoy all the advantages, without the sin of slavery. However, letthesinand danger be what they may in future, posterity will take care of itself 'providences' will relieve them; it is no business of mine so I will Jet alone thcTvhola Now, sir, this is a case only supposed to occur 011 the presentation of some of the grounds of colonizationists in relation to slavery. But, I doubt not, it is ofteji an actual case, and that thus slavery as it is in practice is justified the consciences of men are put at ease the great duty of man to do unto others as he would they should do unto him, and the great truth, that all men are created on which our republican insti tutions stand, virtually lived down. If to the above considerations in reference to slavery, arising out of the manner in which that subject is treated by colonizationists, there be added the effects of a sentiment of hostility against the free colored people, excited in the whites by a persevering reiteration of the policy of removing from among us that class of persons, because they are not only pestilent to us all, but dangerous, by their very presence, to the full repose of the slaveholder, together with the irritated and indignant feelings which such a course is calculated to produce in their minds, the clue is furnished to account for the facts, that under the colonization regimen, slavery, as a system, remains unshaken, and that Liberian emigration, so fir as the free colored people ore concerned, is almost entirely abandoned.

If any of the conclusions above indicated be true, viz. that the system of slavery in our country remains unshaken, and that we are living down the great foundation principle of the government that a persecuting and malignant spirit has been excited against the free colored people that the consciences of men, whilst they are perpetrating the greatest wrong that can be perpetrated, this side the grave, against their fellow men, are put at ease, it is greatly to be deplored and if on impartial examination, the cause of all this be detected in colonization principles or if it is only probable, that it may be detected there, with what alacrity should we abandon a course of action in which a great portion of the irfluence of the nation has been engaged, so injurious to us as a people, and to the great cause of humanity and freedom throughout the world. In searching for the true cause of the ap parent permanency of slavery, anterior to uie uirect enorts maue in tne last two or three years to overthrow it, I will not reject as unworthy of consideration, the state of the public mind during the war of 1812 15, when it was looking abroad rather than at home nor the condition of the country upon the return ot peace the high prices ot southern productions, and the great southern region that had heen acquired and was thrown into the market by the government, soon after the war, in the very midst of slaveholders. I would contribute my mile lo disabuse ihe public mind and relieve the discussion of slavery Irom the influence of the expression star fry in the abstract? This druy has been powerfully narcotic to ine consciences 01 siavenoiders. Jllany who are very well content with the enormities of shivery tn practice, have to it in the abstract haired that norfu-i Let us try it by analogies, to tee wbedier any result Ibatii not absolutely ridiculous can bo obtained.

A mas acts fraudulently towards you and all his neigh- oors, yet, from his heart he hates fraud and dishorn'-! tit the abstract Another meets you every eve-nine with the wares of your daily labor in voor pocket by threats and force he wresta them irom you. Now this mau, as much as any oilier man. detests robbery tn the More especially if he has accompanied each instance of violence wilh as mveh food a will keep yoa alive. It would seem to be not more unreasonable to talk of laws, or morals, or astronomy, or chemistry, food, or raiment, or lodging 11 the abstract, than of slavery ttte ab-ttract. If the death-blow can baspiren to slavery nt practice, the abstract will scarcely be worth contend-inf about.

It is nothing more than just to take these things into the estimate 01 cause, wnea 11 ia attempted to account lor tne compmrauvo inertness of the people of the United State on the subject of slavery. But their effect was, to occasion only neglect of consideration there was in them.no impugning; of leadiaj principles, no adulteration ot tne great irmi asserted by our revolutionary fathers, at a time that tried men's souls.1 Such obstacles as these never could have successfully op posed, tor any length of time, the disencum bered principle and intelligence of our countrymen. Nothing could, so lonjr, have withstood their united vigor, unless it had possessed some accident, fitted to draw them away from the contemplation of pure truth to some counterfeit presentment of it to divert their mental and moral vision from the clear fountain of light, to its false images which, ever, when they exist, are seen near the great luminary in the heavens. Does it look like straining to find the con nexion between cause and effect, when our national inertness is ascribed to the principle so diligently inculcated by colonizationists, that slavery, however sinful and wrong it may have been heretofore, and may, possibly, be hereafter itotr, vndrr existing ctr-eumslances, is neither tinful nor wrung To what else can you attribute the alledgea melioration of slavery in many parts of the country which in most instances amounts to nothing more than an excuse, an argument sent forth in the trappings of humanity for its continuance. How else has it happened, that whilst we have, in our declaration of Independence, in our general and state constitutions, continually presented to us the purest principles of liberty divested of all ambiguity, the most unequivocal affirmations of the rights of man, as man, united to the freest practice under them, that is enjoyed on earth how happens it, I ask, that, whilst the systems of slavery for centuries in other countries in Mexico, in Columbia, Gautemala in fine, in all the Republics of the South, humbly as we rate them when compared with ourselves that even West India bondage, inveterated by use and habit, sustained by wealth and title and talent, has by the force of truth been dashed in shivers to the ground, whilst ours looks like a wall of adamant; that, whilst nearly all the civilized nations of the globe have broken the yoke of the slave, we stand, followed with, Brazil, the most contemptible of all despotisms, bawling out to the world all men are created whilst the scourge dripping with the blood, is brandished by hands besmeared with the gore of nearly threo millions of our fellow men If, Sir, there be any cause other than the principles by which colonization is urged, I have not been so fortunate as to discover it.

Will it be contended that slavery, at system, is not to all appearance, more confirmed among us than it was fifteen or eighteen years ago Will it be said, that, so far as the nation feels on the subject, there has been a change favorable to the enlargement of th slave Where will the evidence be sought to sustain the affirmation In the- condition of things, as they relate to slavery in the District of Columbia, over which, it is undisputed that Congress possesses powers of legislation as full as those of a state over the territory within its limits Will it be found in the large and wellarranged depots for the reception and confinement of slaves In the spacious factories erected and furnished within the District for the prosecution cf the slave trade; throwing into contempt by the extent and regularity of thf ir the factories of the busiest traffickers in human flesh on the coast of Africa Is it to be found in the unblushing advertisements of the slavers, published too in the most respectable Gazettes of Washington and Alexandria, declaring that 'they are in the that the shambles for men and. women and little children, for fathers and mothers. and sisters and brothers, and wives and hus bands, by the hundred, are opened day and night, in the very purlieus of the Capitol, bo near, that the shriek of sundered friends and relatives may almost penetrate to the cham bers of deliberation Shall we look for the proof in the regular slave trade that is car ried on from the District, by sea and by land, to our Southern ports a trade as rerularly and systematically conducted as any that is driven between New York and Liverpool or Havre Or in the droves of slaves purchased bq members of Comrress, and either con ducted by themselves in person, or by proxy to their quarters Or, if proof that slavery, as a system, is shaken, cannot be found in any of these sources, shall we resort to Con gress itself, the great representative ot national sentiment What do we find here A becoming deliberation on this great sub ject a respectful attention to the scores of petitions praying that slavery in the District, where its power is undisputed, may be abolished No, Sir, not so. The numerous petitions presented, during the very last session, were referred for burial without hope of resurrection, to the Committee on the District of Columbia and tho bare incidental introduction of the subject, on the discussion of a bill granting permission to Edward Brooke to bring into the District two f-laves, had well nigh set the House of Representatives in flame. The slaveholder, whenever the subject of emancipation within the District, or in any other way, is brought op, how.

ever incidental it may be, straightway vociferates to the free States' representatives bands off don't touch this delicate subject you know nothing about it it belongs exclusively to os of the South, who know all about it if you persist in meddling with it, the Union will fly to atoms for we know, as surely as you abolish slavery in the District, you will attempt its abolition in the The- logical dress of the outcry is this, 'that if Congress choose to exert a power which is altogether uncontroverted, they will, therefore exert a power which no one has ever attributed to them, and which they utterly For further illustration lam indebted to my neighbor $1VD0, and refusing to pay, the coercion of the law is brought to his aid. Called npon for my defence to the action, I admit, in the fullest manner, the justice of the claim yet still plead, that if the court aid my adversary in the recovery of a iust dell, its aid will, there" fore, soon be invoked for" the recovery of an unjust debt. JNow, Mr, 1 asK, can there be any heafty desire in Congress, or in the people whom they represent, for the extermina-. tiqn of slavery any ichere, when the majority are bullied by such threats, and satisfied with such logic as this? And is there not adequate cause to account for this lack of proper feeling and right opinion on the subject or slavery, to be found in these inculcations annually and eloquently nrred in the renr capitol of our country tthat slavery xov, An honorable Senator ha liwn vrn. frral hundred iniles from Va-hip5l0n.

convoying a lot of slaves, purchased during bis official attendance, in that city, almoin to the very Cmon the huts till tart cd for laeir residence..