The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-04-17
WHOLE NO. 224.

off the hands by which a man in danger Of
drowning clings to the side of a boat for pres
ervation, is tender mercy Not in!requently come
appeals TO the humane Of the North to purchase
the freedom Of some fair-skinned, refined &C
complished young woman, whose father, albeit
her mother was slave, treated her tenderly,
and educated her well, but, dying insolvent,
left her to be given up as portion Of his prop
erty to his creditors, or who forgot to make her
free, so that she must pass in the same way to his
heirs. And large sum is necessary, because she
will command high price as mistress Such
is the message.
There is great complaint Of the extravaganza
and bitterness Of the Abotionists, but great al
lowance must be made, in these respects, for set
Of people who are the recipients of these tales Of
woe, and whose sympathies are constantly APP
pealed to in q manner which touches them to the
quick
Doctor Dewey has elsewhere spoken Of the odor
Of the blacks, as an insuperable barrier between
them and the whites. How is it, then, that
Southerners can always have them in near as
sociaton-in their carriages in their bed rooms, by
their tables. How is it that they can make them
the mothers of 80 many Of their children. Is
there some charm in the wearing of letters by the
poor blacks, which deprives them of this quality
Of their being, and makes amalgsmaton-neigh
borhood-po,sible, that would otherwise be i'm
possible
There is, we think, another explanation of this
dull apprehension of justice in regard to the slave,
in connection with which some lines recur to US,
which we learned in our childhood:
"vice is monster of so frightful mien,
As, to be hated, needs but TO be seen;
Yet seen too, Oft familiar with her face
We first endure-then pity-then embrace"
We are familiar with the monster Slavery and
~ l. a.. &, A.uB.A
gent woman, refined and delicate who travelled
in Spain, recorded her first and last impressions
Of a bull-fght. The first time she saw il, she
became sick, tainted, and was taken away. The
second time, she had threatening, only, Of these
symptoms. The third time she found herself
eager, interested, and insensibe to everything
but the excitement of the scene SO have we be-
come dull to the enormitieS of sllveryto its sin,
its suffering, and its shame, and to our own share
in all
Mr.. Dewey thinks we can reconcile ourselves
to the condition of slaves, by the belief that
slavery will not much longer exist. &c We sub
init, he says, 4" to some connection with the slave
system for while in the full belief that it will
be remedied Ii the condition of the slave were
such acquiescence In the system as would make
it perpetual, | am willing to admit that nothing
would justify IL. Let the nation be torn to pie
ces, would say rather than that the African race
among us should be held in perpetual bondage
But no rejecting man at the North or South
believes that IL can be eternal, or, on the grand
scale of History, Of very long continuance.
Like other great evils, it must die out and come to
an endD
He would have us uphold the system Of slavery,
because II is 30 bad that it cannot last. Ii would
be as wise to say of cancer in it's early stages
Don't cut 1t out because that will give you pain :,
and possibly endanger your life, for tbs great
an evil that 1t cannot last il will die out of selfN
Yes, 1t will die in the death Of the body which it
infects and kills; and we must look 10 IT, that
such is not the mode in which slavery, after in-
fecting more and more our whole body polite, is
to die out among US.
Would Mr.. Dewey so reason in regard TO any
questions affecting the interests of private life
| Would he uphold, upon the same principle, any
evil prejudicial TO its welfare and soudness, and
submit 10 it because Of its enormityl lift IS so
| difficult to dispose now Of these yexed questions
on the sub eet Of slavery, and the dsBger 90 the
| Union which they are by many supposed to in
volve, what do we gain by yielding that which
makes them only 80 much the more difficult
Our fathers put wedge into this Union while
they were framing it, and every concession that
has since been made TO slavery has driven il
| deeper. There is yet time perhaps, to withdraw
| it, and bind together the partially sundered por
| tiOuei But tutTc may Couic sloht lutL Will spii
| them irretrevably -and IL will proceed from
Northern hands, in their short-sghied endeavors
to avert such calamity. Our fathers admitted
slavery, believing, AZ Mr.. Dewey does, that, like
other great evils, il must die out ~ and every
oesson since made to it has been excused to mems
consciences In the same way, while II has postpon
cd its extinction TO q remoter period, and made 1t
| a thousand times more dangerous and difficult.
The grant TO 1t Of Texas has given it n new lease
Of life and il it acquire still more territory,
the difficulties and dangers connected with its
existence among us, which perpetually threaten the
welfare and integrity of the Union, aud which
men Of the present day ought to grappe with
and dispose of by some means or other, will re-
main Legacy for their descendants for many
generations, increasing, oil the while in geometri
cal ratio. Slavery has already had longer exist
ence among us than our fathers expected 1t would
have, and much more has been done for it than
they supposed they were requiring us to do.
It's demands are ilimitable, whereas to concession
there must be an inevitable limit; and whenever
the North shall say, positively md decidedly, 1--WE
cannot grant what you ask" there will be the
same crisis Of passion and danger which the en-
actment of the Fugitive Slave Law and other
lamentable measures Of compromise were intend
cd to avert. Ii must come sooner or later and its
delay will only make II more fearful
When IL was resolved that no more new terri
tory should be given to it, when men Of the North
took their stand upon that platform, then there
was good basis for hope that it would " die out"
On a limited territory 1t must eat itself out, and
consume Its own vitals bat alas. the thunder Of
the Jupiter who placed himself Mt the head Of
that band turned out to be mere theatre thunder,
got up for temporary and delusive effect that
noble stand was soon relinquIshed, and slavery
has received new commission TO 70 forth, in
crease and multiply with large portion Of this
Western world before 1t, where to choose
Again, Mr.. Dewey says, some one may DO
disposed, on the whole, TO seq this to me Your
argument seems TO me TO be reasonable but all
my moral instincts are against II. Then say,
will you, for these instincts destroy Gouernmeat
and that, when reason Is on the other side
These instincts are more potent and irresistible
than reason, because they are truer, and the
higher law Is always on the side Of such in
stincts When man reasons, he is often betrayed
into subtilties. The moral instincts do not
reason but they assert, and with the authority Of
the voice of God within Us, with such sane
ton m is embodied In the words, thus saith the
the Lord'p
We commend to Mr.. Dewey the following
touching incident, recorded by the Philanthropist,
Howard
@The gaoler Of the Schullenhaus, the princi-
pal prison Of Berne, having one day accidentally
left the door OF one Of the mems wards open,
twelve of the inmates, seeing their chance, rush
ed FORTH and, forcing the outer gate, effected their
escape. The people in the streets, fancying they
were going of to work, suffered them to pass.
For the time, every man Of them regained his
liberty but subsequently,, four or five were re-
taken and carried back To their ward. No pun
ishmsnt was Inflicted. The magistrates who
tried them for breaking prison resolved, that in
asmach as every man naturally loves liberty, and
desires above all things to obtain IT, the culprits,
seeing that they had not made use of violence,
ought not 70 DO punished for obeying the greatest
and noblest instinct Of the human heart
There Is another incident OF n somewhat SINH
lar nature which Is too long TO be introduced here,
recorded also by Howard as having occurred In