The Cadiz sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 184?-1851, 1845-01-15

existence but in the Imagination. Our sympa-
thies are almost equally excited by the accounts
published by your committees of Parliament
and therefore true; and which have been verifi-
ed by the personal observation of many of US
of the squalid misery, loathsome disease, and ac-
tual starvation, of multitudes of the unhappy la
borers, not of Ireland only, but of England may
of Glasgow ITSELF Yet we never presume TO in
terfere with your social or municipal regulations
your aggregated wealth and congregated mis-
ery--nor the crimes attendant on them, nor your
laws for their suppression. And when we see,
by your official returns, that even the best clas-
SEES Of English agricultural laborers can obtain
for their support but seven pounds of bread and
four ounces Of meat per week, and when sick or
out of employment must, either starve or subsist
on charity, we cannot but look with satisfaction
TO the condition of Our slave laboreTs, who usu-
ally receive as a weekly allowance, fifteen pounds
of bread and three pounds Of bacon--have their
children fed without stint, aud pFoperiy attended
to--are well clothed, and have comfortable dwell
lings, where, with their gardens and poultry
yards, they can, if the least industrious, more
than realize for themselves the vain hope of the
great French King, that he might see every pea
SAINT in France have his fowl upon his table on
the Sabbath; who, from the proceeds Of their
own crops. purchase even luzurics and fnory ;
who labor scarcely more than nine hours a day,
on the average of the year; and who, in sickness,
in declining years, in infancy and docIepitude,
are watched over witt a tenderness scarcely short
of parental. When we contemplate The known
condition of your operatives, of whom that Of
your agricultural laborers is perha ps the least
rrotolol uo .-, ,,,t ,,t, Not r.b,,,c1 ,P 4I,t
of our slaves, but are always ready to challenge
a comparison, and would be highly gratifed 10
submit to reciprocal Investigation by cnIighten-
ed and impartial judges.
You are doubtless of opinion that all these ad-
Vantages in favor of the slave, if they exist, are
more than counterbalanced by his being depri-
we'd Of his freedom. Can you tel! me what free
dom is? Who possesses it? And how much of
it is requisite for human happiness? Is your ope-
)Fative, existing in the physical and moral condi-
ton which your own official returns depict--de-
priyed, too, of every political right, even that Of
voting at the polls; who is not Cheered by the
slightest hope of ever improving his lot, or lea
wing his children to a better; and who actually
seeks the four walls Of a prison, the hulks, and
transportation, as comparative blessings--is he
ree?-su0iciently free? Can you say that this
sort of freedom-the liberty to beg or steaI-to
choose between starvation and a prison-does
Or ought to make him happier than our slave, sit
uated as | have truly described him, without a
single care or gloomy forethought?
But you will perhaps say it is not in the thing
but in the name that the magic resides--thal
there is a vast difference batween being called a
slave and being made one, though equally cnsla-
we'd by law, by social forms, and by immutable
necessity. This IS an ideal and sentimental dis
]tinction, which it will be difficult TO bring the
African race to comprehend. But if it be true,
and freedom is name aud idea, rather than re-
atty, how many are there, then, entitled even
TO that namo, except by courtesy; and how ma
ny are able to enjoy the idea 10 perfection? Does
your operative regard it as & sufficient Compon-
sation for the difference between four ounces and
three pounds Of bacon? If he does, he is a rare
philosopher. In your powerful kingdom social
grade is as thoroughly established and acknowl-
edged as military rank. Your commonalty see
themselves a series Of ascending classes, and RI
sing above them all, mary more, composed of
men not a whit superior to themselves in any of
the cndowments Of nature, who yet, IN name, in
idea, and in fact, possesses greater worldly priyi-
Icges. 10 what one Of all these classes does
genuine freedom belong? To the duke, who
fawns upon the prince-to the baron, who knuck-
les 10 the duke--or the comnoner, who crouch
es 10 the baron?
Doubtless you all boast of being ideally free,
while the American citizen counts your freedom
slavery, and could not brook a state Of existence
in which he daily encountered follow-moItals
acknowledged and privileged as his s~uperiors
solely by the accident of birth. He, too, in turn,
will boast Of his freedom, which might be inst
as little to your taste. | will not pursue this to-
pic farther. But | think you must admit that
there is not so much in a name; and that ideal
or imputed freedom is very uncertain source
of happiness,
You must also agree that il would be bold
thing for YOU, or any one, to undertake 10 solve
the great problem Of good and evil, happiness
and misery, and decide in what worldly condj-
ton man enjoys most, and suffers least. Your
profession calls on you 10 leach that his hus hap
piness is seldom found upon the stormy sea of
politics, or in the mad race Of ambition, in the
pursuit Of mammon, or the cares of boarded
gain; that, in short, the wealth and honors of
this world IRE to be despised and Stunned. VIII
you, then, say that the slave must be wrctchod
because he is debarred from them? or because
he does not indulge in the dreams of philosophy,
The wrangling Of sectarians, Or the oul-disturbing
speculations Of the sceptjc? or because, having
never tasted Of what is called freedom, he is ig-
norant of its ideal blessings, and is as contentod
with his lot, such as il is, as most men are with
theirs? You and your Presbytery doubtless de-
sire, as we all should, to increase the happiness
of the human family. But since it is so difficult,
if not impossible, 10 determine in what earthly
state man may expect to enjoy most Of il, why
can you not be content TO leave him in that re-
spect where God has placed him; 10 give up the
ideal and the doubtful for the real; to restrict
yourselves to the faithful fulilment Of your grea,
lmissinn Of nrnachinn g lhn rl,A liA.nrs nc nnlun-