The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1840-03-21

no language but the sternest Teouho. ~ ''".a
temporizing course would but inspire their
hopes aud stimulate 10 perseverance. Al
Ter wears of refusal by Congress to rea-
son The subject Il their petitions with them,
now 10 do IT, w06ld be regarded as con-
cessinu extoned from our fears; and the
sboIirion of slavery in the District of Colum-
bia. would be hailed by them a sure har-
binger OF final success. in all their vast projects
The slayeh0ldlng States would consider that
measure, as leading ultimately, and probably
speedily to this end, if they continued in The
Union, and subject 10 the domination OF
lawless and oppressive majority IN Congress
A deep sense OF wrong, proud and manly
Resistance To tyranny. the eternal lndesiructa-
BILE principle OF se!i-protectlon, would ehoody
them ~ hostile array against their government
The UIlon would be rent. and lts falling rag
menis would form the funeral pyre OF oonsh-
tutional freedom, which would be lighted up
by the flames OF discord and civil war.
cannot believe, that there l. man III this
Congress, that would wilifully provoke such
direful catastrophe. But this would be the
certain contamination Of the success of The
measures Of the abolitionists and II II is 10
be, on the heads of these daring ncendaries
let the responsibility rest and rest forever.
Ii gentlemen have an ambition TO play the
part and win the renown of a WllberIorce or
Canning they have made their entire upon
the wrong theatre. Congress is not an impe-
rial. onnipotent parliament, legslating to de-
spoil a few distant and powerless colonlsts OF
a species Of property imposed upon them by
the cupidily OF the predecessors Of the body
which is attempting 10 perpetrate upon them
outrage and tyranny. We are legislative
body Of limited powers bound to our orbit by
written Constitution, and having no jurisdlc-
ton over the subject-that subject, protected
by separate governments competent, and
owned by people powerful enough TO ward
off aggression upon it from any quarter. Let
gentlemen go into the slaveholding States
into their legislatures and conventions, and
they would find appropriate fields for their
operations. Is there one. among the most
phrenzied of the abolitionists who dreams
that the pure fame Of Howard is to hal
low his name What has he performed TO
merit so bright destiny Has he ever placed
himself in situation TO tighten the burden Of
the slave shared with him his trial !! labored
himself that the burden of the slave might be
more easy? Some of them are said to be
worth millions. Let them prove their honesty
and sincerity TO the cause which of all others
they proclaim to be the most holy, by giving
up their houses, their lands, and their trea-
sures, TO purchase the slave from that thral-
dom Of which the Constitution and the laws
are the but,resses" Let them retain enough
10 make themselves and their families com
Portable, and give up all the rest, 10 deliver
those who have reason and immortal souls
like themselves from ignorance and chains
If Gerrit Smith, Arthur Tappan, and others,
will pour their treasures into this exchequer
of humanity and mercy, the country will rise
up and 'ca their names blessed" No,
they are willing to trample upon law and Con-
stituIion, thoxgh il may reduce thousands and
thousands of their countrymen to want, whilst
they clutch their own pelf with grip that
never relaxes
These exclusive friends Of the black race
oppose their colonization in the land Of their
forefathers. That great and benevolent scheme
they seek to overthrow by all manner of mis-
representation; and they daily manifest to-
wards It . sort of Internal hate But trust,
with the favor OF a benign and all-seelng Pro-
violence, the small Colony Of Monrovia is the
germ OF the future empire Of civilization and
Christianity over the whole length and breadth
OF benighted Africa and, by its iast,timentdh-
u, the trhite man will make the most appropr-
ale and noble atonemcnt to an outraged CONT
nentfor the violence and war with which he has
visited il. But the scheme is instant, absolute,
universal emancipation. In some Of the States,
slave population exceeding the tree-n my
own State equal to one third of it, without any
preparation to tit them for great and so radl-
cal change-are to have suddenly thrown
upon them all the rights, all the responsibilities,
and burthens too, OF state OF hcentous iree-
dom. Or every class of the varied population
Of the U. States, the free negroes OF Kentucky
are the most degraded and vicious. They are
loo fee to labor for an honest and permanent
support. Their exertions are irregular, ill-di-
res, led, and inefficient at first; aud, lromthe
steady march o bad habits and worse morals
upon mans industry, after WHILE wholly cease.
They earn seapty and precarious subsistence
almost altogether by thheving and receiving
stolen plumber and when, by their exertlons in
that way or from occasional manual labor they
are put in possession of dollar, it rs generally
expended for intoxicating liquors. Pass
miserable hut, whose whole appearance indI-
Gates the most filthy, squaid poverty: see
bloated, tremulous, sickly, reeling negro man
sitting in the sun in front OF it, in a state of
vacuity almost below reason two or three
nauseous, ill-ted children rolling in the dirt
around him /; black woman looking out hur
riedIy aud timIdly at the approach of every
white man, and throwing fultlve glance at
their secret receptacle for the plundered pro-
perry of their white neighbors all of them
clothed in decaying rigs that have been scarce
ly cleansed since they came from the hands OF
the seamsress, and so scant as to show them
NEARLY In a nf nIdirr La the l1,l nI the