Washington telegraph., 1850-07-03
Conscience and the Constitution.

| gical Seminary, one of the most learned
divines in the country. The pamphle
was elected by the great speech of Mr.
Webster ard is kind of review of il
with reference to the Christian bearings
of the questions involved. The mode il
which he handles the branch of the sub
ject relating to fugitive slaves, is mos
:nastery. lie comments upon passage
of scripture, which the Abolitionsts quote
! in order to chow the moral wrong of sur
rendering fugitive slaves in the following
style:
One more passage in the Mosaic code
claims our particular notice. This is in
! Dieut %: 15 is, aud runs thus: Chou
sealt not deliver INTO his master the SER
want which is escaped from his master un-
to thee. He shall dwell with thee, even
among you, i'll that place which he shall
choose in 6ne OF thy gates, where it liketh
him best, thou shalt not Cypress him"
The first inquiry of course is: Where
does his master live? Among the He
brews, or among the foreigners! The
language of the passage fully developes
this, and answers the question. He "has
escaped from his master unto the He
brews, Ohe text says-thee l. e. Israel;
he shall dloeU ,0ith thee. among you-
IN one Of thy gates" Of course, then
he is an immigrant and did not dwell
aiming them before his fight. If he
had been a Hebrew servant belonging TO
a Hebrew, the whole face of the thing
would be changed Restoration or resti-
tntion, if we may Judge by the tenor of
other property laws among the Hebre ws,
would have surely been enjoined. But
be that as it may, the language of the
text puts it beyond doubt tha. the SER
want is a foreigner, and has fed from a
heathru master. This entirely changes
the complexion of the case. The He
brews were Gods chosen people, and
was the only nation on earth which wor-
shipped the only living and true God.
On this ground as they were the living
depository of the ora"les of God, great
preference was given to them, and great
caution exercised. to keep them from all
tangling aliences and connection with
the heather. In case a slave escaped
from them and come 20 the Hebrews.
two things were taken Into cOnsidera-
ton. according to the views Of the Jew
ish legislator The first was, that the
treatment, of slaves among the heatheus
was far more severe and rigorous than it.
could lawfully be under the Mosaic law.
The heather master possessed the pow er
of life and death, of scourging or imprls-
oniug, or putting the excessive toll even
TO any extent that he pleased. Not so
,,o,n.r ba HaIrowS Hu1Dunity pioaI Il
ed for the protection of the fugitive. The
second aud most important consideration
was. that only among the Hebrews could
the fugitive slave come TO the knowledge
aud worship Of the only living aud true
God.
The clause which says: Thou shalt
not oppress him" of course means, that
he shall be deuied none of the privileges
OF resident in the land, and that he
or labor. The verses before us do rot
say, that such refugee servant shall be
circunscised; out the admission of him
to the privileges of freeman implies
this. The servants of Hebrews, whether
of domestic or foreign origin, were all to
be circumsci>ed, Gen. IT: 12-15. OF
course the admitted deuiZen, in the pre-
sent case, would be required to comply
with such an injunction. BY the rite in
question he became incorporated into the
Jewish theocratical commonwealth, and
therefore entitled, as even bond men were.
to all the religious privileges. Moses,
therefore would not suffer him to be forced
back into the darkness of heatheulsm,
nor allow that he should be delivered up
to an enraged heathen master. Was he
not in the right!
But if we now put the othar case, viz,
that of escape from Hebrew master,
who claimed aud enjoyed Hebrew rights.
* not the case greatly changed! Who
could take from him the properly which
the Mosaic law gave him right 10 hold!
Neither the bondmau himself, nor the
neiphbor of his master TO whom he fugi
tive might come. Reclamation of him
could be fully made, and therefore must be
enforced.
With this view Of the matter before US,
how can we appeal to the passage in
question. to justify. yea. even to urge,
the retention of fugitive bond-men In our
own country! we are ouc Hapo" o"0
so called Christian nation. Christianity
is national religion among us. do not
mean, that all men are real Christians or
that Christianity is established by law;
but I mean, that lnneasurably the great
est part of our population North and
South. profess to respect Christianity, and
appeal to its prscepts as test OF morals,
and as furnishing us with the rules OF llte
What State in the Union does not at
least tacitly admit Christianity to hold
such place!
When fugitive bond-man, then, comes
to us of the North from master at the
South, in what relation do we OF the