The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-10-02
PHILADELPHIA CORRESPONDENTS
THE cHRIsTIANA TRAGEDY.

How rich, how poor, how abiect how o..
gust this Republic of ours must anno,r :, "u-
observer high enough up and far enough oly ;"
see 1t as 1t rs. and feel it as it deseryesl Atm,
moment OF all the nations of the earth -
IN the grandest attitude. Every day adds ~
our power and glory; and the homes az H.
WIDE world turn TO us for an omen ne su.ss-O
Nay, 1t Is even beginning to be felt that o,,r a
rect mterposition is the ultimate reIianco IS
European freedom; that the tyrannias &c tLa
Old World are to be defeated ON their Last La,tio
held by the arms of the New. thar tbo sui
of Washington, which struek the frst sn 9"o,u
tui Dlow Tor Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.
must WIN the last victory of the heroic faith.
Tor one, believe that we are worthy. because we
are able to achieve the civil and religious Eb-
erty OF the world and that it is our destiny to
enect IT, Yet this nation, this whole nation
with such a prophecy upon it, is at this mo,
ment IN full chase upon a slave hunt! busy
swearing, praying preaching arguing theright
OF warilke incursions by armed slayeholders
and their train of human bioodhounds. unon
the bordering free States in pursuit of few
wretched fugitives from chatta bondage And
courts and counsellers, national and local are
straining the presidents of feudalism. and re-
lining and alternating the logic of despotsm
to construe the despair of the crushed wretcbes
into treason, and the natural sympathies of I'm.
mainly into an aiding and abettng of the public
enemy Political profigacy is adding the yery
maximum of its meanneSs and malignity and
the pusillanimitieS of mind and heart which be.
long to cruelty and cowardice are the ruling
sentiments of the day. Not "a doctrine of the
demon system of masterdm and Nasgaage
which ever disgraced the @conmon law &c
aDsoiutism, but is eNoxeu IRON rils runs {,
that old Bastile for the service of the mod.
ern oppression now struggling among us 70, its
very life
A few semi-sayages, victims of Maruand in
situations, escape into the free State of Penn
sylvania, and their wholly savage masters with
ruffian bailiffs and deadly arms follow them to
fight out the war begun in Africa by the first
of the pirate captors Just as the Fdr-ups and
Far-downS meet in battle array upon our canal
and railroad lines, and renew their Old World
barbarsms to the horror of our New World
civilizatiOn--with all the difference of dignity.
however that there is between the motive Of
blind passion, which makes no account of lie
and the base avayice which hunts solely for the
market value of its human prey. Nothing will
satisfy our Southern brethren just now, but
the privilege of the chase, with all its revolving
incidents daily enacted within our borders and
we are required, besides, to play foresters point
ers, and settlers of the game
If that is the bargain, it is hard one. Fit
is only an implication, or a contingency sprung
upon us beyond our apprehension OF the en-
gagement, and made every day more and more
impossible to us in the mere wantonness Of ar
rogance, we mast be excused. Law and logic
are not even matches for human nature; and
their enforcement will be the Devils death be.
fore the demonstration can be quite worked
out The world has destiny as well as con-
| tract duties to fulfil; and it must get along
Not only ideas and institutions have chang
ed, however sanctioned but temples and towers
have tumbled into dust, and empires been over
turned, with all their burden of interests and
their whole anparatus of force and the sleeves
asu syranss Who resisted humanity's progress
lie fossilized in the history Of the epoch in their
solemn scarecrow ugliness the Jest and scQm
of better day.
1t is very idle to talk of the omnipotence and
infallibility of parliaments and the inviolabe
sacredness of municipal laws in this age 1t
touches no mans conscience Liberty has
scourged Absolutism from the temple, and
Truth and Right are the authorities of the new
time Not saint in the calendar, civil or sa
cred, but has won his title to human worship by
greatly violating the laws enacted by the pow
ers that be u and the minds of men have the
training and the warranty of at least eighteen
hundred and fifty years of resistance to the re-
qulrements of despotism The doctrine which
lustifies national revolutieas arises out of the
supremacy OF reason and conscience over all
enactments, whether by Kings, as supreme, or
by Governors or Majorities or their Represent
atives, worthy or worthless A law that builds
itself upon lie, and sets itself for the mainte-
nance OF q wrong must look to such brute force
as it can command for all its success. Mems
hearts loathe it mems souls abhor it every.
thing in it that makes them fit to live and ready
to die bids them spurn it, Their outraged hu.
manity indicates itself Manhood finds itself
greater than institutions and independent Of
them; pointing to the desecrated temple and
the usurping State, it says Pull these down
leave not one stone upon another, and in three
days | will raise them again, new and holy
Treasons and rebellions, high and petty. con.
structiye and absolute, are inventions, refuges
of wrong and necessary only TO the defence Of
despotism, or order if you please. This may
their impeachment is nothing TO the forward
march of manhood, with its great heart fully
set upon its rights and duties
Look at this Christiana Tragedy Thirty or
forty negroes who receive no protection from
the Government for whom not law of the
statute-book has one careful provision, and
who therefore, owe not the reciprocal allegl-
ance, having a choice, clear of all obligations,
to abide the consequences Of an appeal 30 force
rather than accept those of submission, stand
out with their lives for their liberty, as hunted
beast would do, and as hunted man, treated
as n beast, may surely do, when It is his cholce
among the chances and straightway, the
United States of America are in jeopardy
their existence! All is it so! Can slave at
bay shake the model nation Of the earth with
fear Is single atom Of Gods truth terrlsie
to the world in arms! Can the right make u
self felt through the nation, when asserted Only
by the poorest outlaw in his naked RESISTANCE
to his pursuers And shall we not exult II
the Power and Providence ever present tla'
makes the rebuke of the meanest creature ne
has made awful to the wrong-doer on DIS
throne!
If this riot had happened, with i've times ' nc
loss of life, in mob in Philadelphia, II WoIlu
have been an affair for the police OF the dls
trict and an item in the penny newspaPe"
only; for then it would have been but conl'
mon crime and an everyday mischief a G",
fiict of wrongs of evil example indeed put
nothing in il 10 challenge the organic mlschs,
of our civil system. But at Christana, as /"
Bunker Hill, and the Garden OF Gethse IN ~.
oppression in the form of law, and with al "o
claims Of established authority, met the ever.
lasting right in open conflict, and men : "eas
stand still by a natural instinct at the n
strous spectacle They came with ! BANDS a
men and officers, armed with swords ~
slaves la each instance they came ~ M
sacred name of the law, which should pe 'g nv
will commanding the reverence Of men. LUZ
sword of Peter resisted the unrlghteous ,Se
sword, though they persisted by ii In po'n
cases the wrong was rebuked, and TIE usurp',,
ton repulsed and defsd, for the testimony o,