The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-01-23
VOL. V.

tions with remarks, any further than may be No.
cessary to explain their contents and ;,d;o,,-
what disposition Of them is desired; bat thu -
is enforced only when some Free.So;ler :, .,
enough to imagine that he has the PRIVILEGE g
free speech. In other cases, the courtesy ~ ~.
Senate allows considerable freedom of snOecb e
the gentleman presenting the memorial no ono -
that class Of politicians who are agtat;n for a.,
sake Of peace. So Mr.. Clay, presenting his nett.
ton from the elite of Rhode Island and Indiana
made speech in favor of the objects of the me-
morialists, which occupies column and n half,
the newspapers, and nobody called him 70 o,5or
He was permitted to uncover one Of the & o,r;,,.
wounds" of the country, without offence 10 am
body.
What" cried Mr. Clay, is to be done with
these colored people | again ask what 10 - y.
done with them They are here under an, ~ ~ W
noses and in this District, in the course os ~
the last ten years, they have doubled In mn
Der of the States laws are being psssed-rivoron.
laws-of exclusion of them from their terrtorv
Some States, indeed, are introducing into tbo;
fundamental laws, into their Constitutions nv
visions against the reception of any free peonie No
color within their borders What is to become -
them7 ask again. In the name of humanity and
justice, what is to become of them? see no Other
remedy than that of sending them back to the land
whence their ancestors were taken; and can con-
ceve of no interest Of any portion of the people of
the United States that will not be benefited BY such
transfer Of the free people of color from the United
States to Africa The whites at the North will no
benefted-the whites at the South will be benefit
ed-the slaves at the South will be beneft.d-tbe
poor creatures themselves will be benefited; for.
instead of remaining in a country where they
never can be elevated to the high social and Do
litical condition of the whites-where they must
forever remain degraded corrupt, and dissolute
class-they can be carried TO the country Of their
ancestors, and rise into an importance there which
they never will attain herenss
Mr. Clay and his friends have insisted that the
whole question of slavery should be excluded
from the National Councils; but does he not see
that the attempt seriously to use the Federal
Government for the transportation of the Free
People of Color to Africa, must necessarily bring
up the consideration of this question in all its
bearings7 The colored race in this country has
common interests, and common destiny. We
cannot ccnsiasx Ahe Relations Of aae portion of it
without considering the relations of every por-
ton. Look at some of the topics that must he
discussed, should Congress seriously venture on
scheme of African colonization.
For example, Where does the Constitution
confer power ON that body to use the money Of
the people of the United States for the purpose
of exiting a portion of them2 Whence that
prejudice against free people of color, which is
pronounced by Mr.. Clay, invincble?" Why
do free colored people, with connections in the
South, and constitutions adapted to its climate,
emigrate to the cold North They are driven
out by Slavery. Why are they degraded? Be-
cause Slavery has burnt its brand upon them,
and still keeps down, almost to the level of the
brute, the great mass of the race to which they
belong. Why are they idle and thriftless in a
slave State? Because the system of slave labor
leaves them without employment Why are the
shareholders 80 anxious to get rid Of them? The
security, the necessities of the slave system de-
mand their removal.
Suppose lines of steamers established to the
coast of Africa, for the purpose of satisfying the
occasional demands of philanthropy, and also Of
carrying off the surplus slaves of the South, so
that slave labor might be maintained in security
and the marketable value of slaves kept up, when
could we expect to see the moral sentiment or
self-interest of the community array all against
the SYSTEM
These are some Of the topics which would be
drawn into discussion, should Mr.. Clay succeed
in bringing the subject of African Colonization
before Congress. What is he then, but an agita-
tor? Wherein does he differ from Mr.. Giddings
but in ths--that while the latter sgtates for the
purpose of relieving the Federal Government
from all responsibility for slavery, Mr.. Clay agi-
tates for the purpose of inducing the Government
to assume additional responsibility in relation to
it. That is all-and yet Mr.. Clay is statesman
Mr., Giddings fanatic
What mockery for Mr. Clay, after the obtru-
sion of these exciting subjects upon the attention
of the Senate, to close his harangue with ten
der appeal for "peace and harmony" Listen!
"Ah if we could only give up, if we could only
renounce, these unhappy subjects of agitation
which have disturbed our country 80 long and 80
greatly--if the people of the North would only
allow the people of the South to manage their own
domestic affairs in their own way, unaffected and
unimpeded by them-if they would only reflect
that il slavery is fraught with evils the evils are
not felt by those at The North, but they are con-
fined to the South, where the slaves are-if they
would only cease to agitate each other end our
country, and endanger our Union ITSELF by con-
tinuing these unhappy subjects of strife and con-
troversy, and all would come together upon this
great common object in which the free States are
Just as much interested as the slave States, unit
ing ell our energies in sending the free people OF
color from the shores of America to that place
where they can enjoy real freedom, and pursue
their own happiness-what glorious result would
it be for our country"
@Give up-renounce these unhappy subjectsot
agitation at the very moment when he is invok-
ing Senator's to take them up and ngitate them
Mr.. Clay is right in his practice of agitation,
wrong in his theory of no agitation. The exist
ence of great wrong in the social system, neces-
sarly isturbs all its relations engendcrs dscords
and gives birth to antagonisms and agitations,
which can be remedied only by the supremacy Of
the law of right; for it is just as true now, as it
was eighteen centuries ago, that Christ and Belia
have no fellowship.
Mr.. Clay sees the increasing antagonism be-
tween slavery and liberty, and would apply
remedy; but he is for palliative, not radical
measures Hewould mitigate the inconvenience,
and present perils of the conflict, leaving to
postcrity and providence the task Of working out
the true and complete remedy.
Now, we hold that providence helps those vho
help themselves, and that posterity will have
enough evils of its own to contend with, without
being made heirs to ours. There is but one way
to establish stable "peace and harmony in our
Union and that is, by the complete recognition Oh
the natural rights Of all men to life liberty, and
the pursuit Of happiness lie. this become the oasi'