Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1823-06-28

lit may SuHGr anu lidt eiCd'i9
this is his own fault, and the fault ofthe
enslaving law; and not OF the law that
does justice to the oppressed.
You say, law OF emancipation would
be unjust, because it would deprive men
of their property but is there no lnJus-
tee on the other side ? Is nobody enti-
tied to Justice but slav e-holders ! Let Us
Iconsder the injustice on both sides, and
weigh them in an even balance. On
the one hand, we see man deprived
of all properly, of all capacity to possess
properly, of his own free agency, OF the
means of instruction, of his wife, OF his
children, OF almost every thing dear to
him-on the other, man deprived OF
eighty or an hundred pounds. Shall
we hesitate moment 10 determine who
Is the greatest sufferer, and who is treat.
ed with the greatest injustice? The mat.
ter appears quite glarng, when we con-
| sider that neither this man nor his parents
had sinned-that he was born to these
stuff, rings but the other suffers aito-
| gelher for his own sin, and that OF his
predecessors. Such law would only
take away property, that is, its own pro-
perry, and not ours: property that has
the same right TO possess us, as its pro-
perry, as we have to possess 1t: proper
ty that has the same right to convert our
children into dogs, aud calves, and colts,
as we have to convert theirs into these
beasts: property that may transfer our
children to strangers, by the same right
that we transfer theirs.
Human legislatures should remem-
Der, that they act in subordination to the
Great Ruler OF the universe, who have
no right 10 take the government out of
bis hand nor enact laws contrary to his
that if they should presume to attempt it,
they canno. make that right which he
has made wrong; they cannot dissolve
the allegiance Of his subjects, and trans
Ter II TO themselves, and thereby free the
people from their obligations to obey the
laws of nature. The people should
know that legls stures have not this pow
{ and that thousand laws can never
make thai innocent, which the divine law
has made criminal; or give them a right
10 that, WITCH The divine law forbids them
to claim. But to the above reply it
may be farther objected, that neither we
nor the legisI alure ems ayed lbe Africans:
but they eBslaved one another and VIC
only purchased those, whom they had
stNeas prisnnare OF wer, ard reduced to
slavery.
Making prisoners of war slaves, though
practised by the Romans and Other an
Gent nations. and though still prac used
| by some barbarous tribes, can by no
means BE- justified; and it is unreasona-
bic and cruel. Whatever may be said
OF me Chief authors and promoters of an
| unjust war, the common soldier, who is
under command and obliged 10 obey,
and as is often the case, deprived of the
means OF formation as TO the groundS
of the war, certainly cannot be tho " hit
guilty of a crime SO heinous, that him.
self and posterity deserve the dreadful
punishment of perpetual servitude. 1t
is cruelty tina, the present practice Of
| all civilized nations bears testimony
against Allow then the matter object
ed to be true, and it will not Justify our
practice Of enslaving the Africans. But
| The matter contained in the objection is
true in part. The history of the slave
trade is TOO tragical to be read without
bleeding heart and weeping eyes.
A few Of these unhappy Africans,
and comparatively very few, are crimi-
nals,whose servitude is inflicted as a pun-
ishment for their crimes. The main
body are innocent, unsuspecting crea-
lures, free, living in peace, doing no.
| hing TO forfeit the common privileges
Of men. They are stolen or violently
borne away by armed force from their
country, their parents, and all their ten
| der connections ; treated with an indigni-
! ~ and indecency shameful to mention,
and cruelty shocking to all the tender
feelings OF humanity; and they and their
posterty forced into state of servitude
and wickedness for ever. 1t is true,
they are commonly taken prisoners by
Africans; but it is the encouragement
given by Europeans that tempts the AZ
ricans to carry on these unprovoked wars. :
They furnish them with the means and
hold out to them reward for their
| plumber. If the Africans are thieves
the Europeans stand ready to receive the
stolen goods: If the former are robbers,
the latter furnish them with arms, and
purchase the spoil. In this case who is
the most criminal, the civilized Europe
an or the untutored African? The Eu-
ropean merchants know, that they them,
O. lvec the fel>o