The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1847-09-11
.,.,,r, tscessissess VIII Ssssaes ssd
Ss' l:ooA Policy,


-. ..ce.si.srua Win Jsssirs and
"'s l;ssd Policy,
Pyore4 By Speech Deferred IN the Con-
r.n,;on. held at Ddnrille, Kentucky /;
Il Lv me Rec. DAVID RIcE-1792.
(coyTNuEDD
To call or fellow men, who have not
.rf.;,ed nor voluntarily resigned their lib
.r,v our property, is gross absurdity, q
.on,,a,i;ction 10 common sense, and an in
unity OF human nature. The owners OF
,'cb Slaves then are the licensed robbers,
and no, the Just proprietors, of what they
clam freeing them is not depliving them
Of ,b.ir property. but restoring il to the
r;sb, owner: il i. suffering the unlawful
csptye to escape Ii is not wronging the
master bu, doing Justice to the slave, re-
s,o,;ue bin 10 himself The master, it is
,ns : wronged; he may suffer. and that
Greatly. but this is his own fault, and the
f,ult Of the enslaving law; and not of the
lsw tha, does Justice TO the oppressed.
You say. law of emancipation would
he unjust. because it would deprive men Of
their property but is there no injustice on
The other side Is no body entitled TO JUS
ice. but shareholders Let us consider
the Injustice on both sides; and weigh them
in even balance On the other hand, We
see man deprived of his property, Of all
capacity 10 possess property, of his own free
agency. OF the means OF instruction, OF his
wife. of his children, of almost everything
dear 10 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 treated
with the greatest injustice The matter ap-
pears quite glazing, when We consider, that
neither this man, nor his parents had sinned,
that he was born TO these sufferings but the
other suffers altogether for his own sin, and
that of his predecessors. Such a law
would only take away property, that is its
own property, and not ours; property that
has the same right 10 possess US, as its
property, as We have TO possess il property
that has the same right TO convert our chill
dren INTO dogs, and calves, and colts, as We
have 10 convert theirs into these beasts ;
properly that NAV transfer our children 10
strangers, By the same ri ght that We transfer
theirs.
Human legislatures should remember,
that thew act in subordination TO the great
Ruler Of the universe have no night TO take
the government out OF his hand nor TO
enact laws contrary TO his; that if they
should presume to attempt ii, they cannot
make that right, which he has made wrong :;
they cannot dissolve the allegiance of his
subjects, and transfer il TO themselves, and
thereby free the people from their obliga-
lions 10 obey the law OF nature. The peo-
pie should know, that legislatures have not
this power aud that thousand laws can
never make that innocent. which the d.
vine law has made criminal or give them
right to that, which the divine law forbids
them 10 claim.
Blu; TO the above reply il may be further
objected, tina, neither We, nor the legisla-
ture, enslaved the Africans but they Ell
shaved one another and We only purchased
those, whom they had made prisoners Of
var, and reduced to slavery.
Making prisoners Of war slaves, though
practiced by the Romans an" other an
Gent nations, and though still practiced
by some barbarous tribes, can BY no means
be justified; il is unreasonable and cruel.
Whatever may be said OF the chief authors
and promoters Of an I'm ust war, the com
mon soldier, who is under command and
obliged to obey, and as is often the case,
deprived OF the means OF information as to
The grounds of the war, certainly cannot be
thought guilty Of crime so heinous, tina,
Tor il himself and posterity deserves the
dreadful punishment Of perpetual servitude.
Ii is cruelty that the present practice Of
all civilized nations bears testimony against.
Allow then the matter objected to be true,
and II will not Justify our practice Of
enslaving the Africsns. But the matter
contained in the objection is only true in
part. The history of the slave trade is toe
usglcal to be read without a bleeding hear
and weeping eyes.
A few Of these unhappy Africans. and
comparatively very few, are criminals
whose servitude is inflicted as a punish
ment Of their crimes. The main body ar,
innocent, unsuspecting creatures, free, liv
ing IN peace, doing nothing to forfeit tn
common privileges Of men. They ar,
stolen, Or violently borne away by amet
lorce, from their country, their parents
and all their tender connections treated witt
an lndlgnity and indecency shameful to men
non, and cruelty shocking to all the tende
feelings Of humanity; and they and thei
posterlty forced into a state of servitud
and wretchednex forever. II is true, the
are commonly taken prisoners by Africans
bu, II is the encouragement given by tn
Europ, ans that tempts the Africans to carr
On these m provoked wars. They furnis
them with the means, and hold out to thor
reward for thei, plunder. II the African
are thieves, the Flu, ,'peans stand ready
receive the stolen gooos'; if the former a
robbers, the latter furnish ,.t'em with arm
and purchase the spoil. In this case, WI
IS the most criminal, the civilized European
Oh the untuiored Alricang The !EuroPea
merchants know that they themselves a
the great encourages Of these wars; as the
are the principal gamers by the even
They furnish the sinews, add the strengt
and receive the gain. They know tn
they purchase these slaves Of those, wi
have no Just pfetence to claim them
theirs The African can give the EuI
Pean no better claim than he himself ha
The Europeon merchant can give us
Deter claim than is vested i'm him; a