The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-05-17
From the B0stom Transcript
The Peace and Dignity or the Common-
wcalth.-NO. XIX.

sno oAcuA LlcctIHp OclODtI ~ lou
were offered by Mr.. Richard H. Dana, junior, 4
young gentleman for whom have entertained
every cordial regard-the same cordial regard
which, for some seven and forty years, have
cherished for my old friend and classmate, his
honorable father.
OF the absolute madness and folly of the
third and fourth of these resolutions, and OF
their reasonable tendency. have already de-
livered my humble opinion, and believe in =
manner sufficiently explicit. now propose to
examine the first resolution offered by Mr.
Dana. Let me commence with profession OF
faith. | believe our American negro slavery
to be terrible evil. believe the doctrines Of
Garrison, Phillips, Quincy, and their confeder-
ates to be reasonable, impractcable, and absurd
believe there are Free soilers, between whose
fiery and Improbable zeal and that of the most
furious AbOltionist there is no difference what
ever. believe not more firmly in any simple
mathematical truth than that all the labor, and
toll, and money, and froth, and rawlings, and re-
| vikings of Garrison and his bedlamites have
tended directly, and most certainly Ito rivet the
letters, and postpone the deiverance of the
slave.
| The resolution which wish to examine is
in these words: RESOLVED, That our moral sense
rcUolts against the nep Fugitiuc Slare lao, be-
leuing 1t to involre the height Of injustice and
inhitnnnity, since II uiolates the golden rule Of
Christianity, of doing unto Others as ,ue acould
haze them do to as, and the command Of God
himself, uttered from Mount Sinai: sI'hox
shalt not delrer unto has master the serpant that
hath escaped from, his master unto thee I"
1t is not possible to perceive the slightest in
fraction of the golden rule, by the present gene
ration, in the enactment Of the Fugitive Slave
law, if we admit that law to be mere faithful
carrying out of provision of the Constitution.
The prolonged performance of Mr.. Rantoul,
upon his professional bagpipe, even with the
dfones, has not probably shaken any sound
lawyers confidence in the constitutionality Of
this law.
If, however, the fault lies in the Constitu
ton, it is not zee, but those unconscionable old
rascals, oar fathers, who were guilty Of "thc
height Of injustice and inhumanity'
Let US now 60 little way up Mount Sinai
with Mr.. Dana and the gentlemen who passed
this resolution ''by acclamation." But first
let us settle point or two, about which we
can have no manner Of difficulty with so re-
spectacle lawyer as Mr.. Dana. A witness
summoned, and document vouched in by one
party, may be availed of by the other party.
Whatever we may find, therefore, on our jour
ney up Mount Sinai, each of us shall convert to
his own use, so far as he lawfully can.
One other point, and we are off for the
mountain. MIR. Dana, suppose, agrees with
me that, although guestiona Of constitutional
law and of the expediency and propriety Of
perjury and treason cannot be safely trusted to
| the decision Of such pre-eminently wild asses
as Parker and Colver, yet, by the simple rule,
| cuique, in sla artc credend,m est-a learned
and accomplished divine is more trustworthy
exposition of scripture than a cheesemopaer or i
slversmith, or even an attorney at law. Now
propose for our guides up Mount Sinai two
eminently experienced conductors Matthew
Henry and Thomas Scott.
What, then, do Mr.. Dana and the resolu-
TONERS understand by these words ss1nou shalt
escaped from his master unto thee gu
well know that some semi-delirous peo-
pe-clergymen, lawyers, and others-have
counselled slaves to steal the property of their
masters, seize the swiftest horses, murder all
who oppose their flight, promising these rob-
bers and murderers an asylum and protection
at the North Isit to such that Mr.. Dana and
the resolutioners would apply this passage2 #
SO, they might as wisely and as well pick out
blindfold any passage from the book Of Tobit,
Read the words of the learned and sagacious
commentator: eve cannot suppose that this
lap required the Israelites to entertain sIapes
,rho had robbed their masters or left their service
,cithout cause" And what was deemed good
and sufficient cause? The mere abstract fight
to flee from bondage2 Not at all. Whatever
luc may think, Gods thoughts then, as these
learned expostors declare, were not as our
thoughts n0c. No cause but ertren,e cr7.eltu
and the actual fear Of death are named as causes
by the commentators.
t'We cannot suppose" says Matthew Hen
ry, "they were hereby obliged to entertain all
the unprincipled men that ran from SERVICE"
Again. "The angel bid Hagar return to her
mistress, and Paul sent Onesimus back to his
master Philemon because neither had any cause
to 60 away, nor were exposed to danger in re-
turning. But the servant here is supposed to
escape, l. e. to run for his life" Now, if the
boobies, Colver and Parker, should be carried
out, Boston ere long would become city of re-
fuge for an inoalculable host of negroes, some
Of whom, under instructions from the aboli-
tionists, had robbed and murdered their mas
tiers; and who. not being more given to careful
discrimination than the gentlemen who passed
this resolution by accAsmation, might be in
some little doubt if they might not rightfplly
employ these very arts upon tho property and
the persons of their instructors
BOSTON has been called the paradise of minis
tiers. May it never become the paradise of ne
groes, which it certainly would become under
the preposterous construction Of Gods word in
volved in Mr.. Dana's resolution city of
refuge for robbers and assassins, not less than
for those-few in number-who, in the words
Of Matthew Henry, "fee for their lives"
am well satisfied that blacks and whites are
none the happier for proximity. The white
man who eschews any closer relation with the
black is instantly charged with cruel DISPOSE
ton to degrade him and Cowper's lines are
readily cited-the black is gully of skim"
&C.! 1t is the color--the color, and that con
stitutes the difference. This false issue is very
absurd, and pretty universal.
Quamvis lille niger, quamvis tn candidus esses,
----------nimiurn ne crsde colori
The color ia, to be sure, prin,a facie evil
dence Of Gods distinctive purpose. Are there