The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-05-20

| form, have seen it in Maryland and in Vir-
ginia, in both the Carolinas, in Kentucky,
Louisiana, and Mississippi-and for seven
weary months | have closed my eyes, night
after night, upon little speck Of earth, amid
the main, surrounded by a population oftwo
thousand whites, and seven and twenty thou
sand slaves. had read Bourne's Picture of
Slavery long before, and was particularly un-
fortunate in not being able to discover any very
striking examples Of those awful atrocities
which that reverend horror-monger had col
lected together Nevertheless, | am very sure
it is terrible evil, and heartily wish it were
in the predicament Of Rachel's first-born.
Well, do not think the Abolitonst or the
Frees oiler will find any thing particularly 10
his purpose upon Mount Sinai, and have ex-
amined the matter somewhat attentively
think we have sufficiently shown the entire in
applicability to their purposes of the command,
in relation to fugitive servants from other ma
| TONS
| am, by no means, inclined to call for an en-
forcement of the Mosaical dispensaton but
the public have been summoned up into Mount
Sinai "by acclamation." If Gods commands
are to be quoted as valid, at this day, against
the slaveholder--they are valid in his 1avor.
Now, few things are more frequently held up
for adherence than the reference to slaves as
property, unless it be the idea Of slave dying
under the chastisement of the master. How
was it at Sinai? 'sAnd if man smite his
servant or his maid with a rod, and he die un-
der his hand, he shall be surely punished.
Notwithstanding, if he continue day or two,
he shall not be punished: for he Is his money!"
ExOd. xxi, 20, FL. II the slave die outright.
the master was punished-bur if the slave sur
vived a day or t,co, the master was not pun
ished, because the servant was his property
his money. quote this, not because it quad
rates with my poor, imperfect sympathies, but
for the benefit of our friend, Mr.. Dana, and
those gentlemen who, however misunderstand-
ingly, have already vouched in and expressed
their reliance upon the command Of God at
Mount Sinai, and are partial to the higher
| lnD.
The heathens alone were the perpetual slaves
of the Israelites. But even an Israelite could
be sold into slavery for crime and for debt; in
which case his servitude expired after the sixth
sell himself into slavery for poverty
! Perpetual servitude, among the Israelites, is
clearly set forth in Leviticus XIV, A, AS, 46.
We occasionally hear the runaway slaves from
the southern States characterized as american
citizens because they were born here. The
reader will perceive that, by the higher la,v,
all the children Of perpetual slaues were slases:
s'Both thy bondmen and thy bondmaids, which
| thou shalt have, shall be of the heather, that
| are round about you; of them shall We buy
bondmen and bondmaids. Moreover, Of the
children of the strangers that do sojourn among
you, of them shall ye buy, and Of their families
that are with you, which they begat in your
land; and they shall be yoar possession. And
ye shall take them as an inheritance, for your
children after you to inherit them for a posses
lrso. IL 81, L.. L.
Though the domestic slave trade, as it APP
pears from these passages, was clearly recog-
Missed by the higher lao, and those who bought
men in market overt seem no more to have
been denounced at Sinai than those who bought
camels and asses; yet a distinction, broad and
obvious, is made between all such and kidnap-
pers and nansteaiers; which terms, in the loose
dialect or jargon Of the aboltionist, are ap-
piled with very little discrimination. Kidnap-
pers were punished with death-"and he that
stealcth man and selleth him, or if he be found
in his hand, he shall surely be put to death"
Exod. xxi, l6.
1t is considered by the Rabbns that the law of
Moses for furnishing master under whose
chastisement slave died referred only to He
breac slaves, whose term of bondage could not
exceed six years and that in regard to heather
slaves, they were considered by the higher Ia,c
unqualifedly as chatels, and left entirely at the
mercy of their masters. Those who would
look farther into this matter may turn to Sell
den, de jure Nat, ct Gent, lib w., cap. |.
! The doctrine of the law that partus sequitur
rentren,-the issue follows the mother-as APP
piled to slavery, has created now and then
good deal Of Indignation. Now that we are up
In Mount Sinai, it may be well to look after
this matter, and see if we can find any recog-
/ Of Drip nj in tbo .oLo L..
a Hebrew servant, whose ordinary term was
six years, came in by himself, he went out by
himself; and if he and his wife came in to-
gether, they went out together; but IF his
master have given him wife, and she have
born him sons or daughters, the wife and her
children shall be her masters, and he shall 90
out by himself'-Exod. xxi, 4. This was
decreed, suppose, upon the principle that the
fruit Of all his labers belonged to his master,
whether they were labors of the field or labors
OF love. There was one alternative for the
HcbreU slave In such emergency, and that was
perpetual slavery; for, if he preferred bondage,
with his wife and children, to liberty without
them, then the master was required to bring
him before the Judges. "And his master shall
bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall
serve him forever .'-Exod. xxi, 6. Such,
| then. was the higher la,c.
| Once more, be it remembered, am no advo-
cate for slavery. II was not my proposition to
go up into Mount Sinai, but Mr.. Dana's He
has appealed unto Cesar-unto Caesar let HIM
go. He has appealed unto the higher lar,
and it is meet and right that we should look
for its DEGREES in that volume of inspiration
which he himself and his associates have cited
"by reclamation" 1t is not competent for him
nor for them to select passage and give it
| construction utterly ridiculous and false, and
then thrust it before the public as the decree
of Almighty God. There is no higher la,c,
trust. for such an outrage as this. Nor is it
competent for them to take the holy volume
out of our hands after they have placed it there
1t is IN the case, and they must bow down to its
authority.
was really gratified to remark the reverence
paid to the authority Of Moses hy Mr.. Dana