The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-09-09

crime! How much greater the crime Of pre-
venting millions Of men from having house
they can call their Owni Is cOncubinage
crime In this Union. all the adult portion Of
more than three millions of people are now
forced to live in a state Of concubnage. l. it
"a crime to abandon innocent females to the
lusts of guilty men, without the slightest pro
lection of law In this country "a million and
a half Of females constantly are so abandoned
and the rearing Of dark-sknned beauties for
the harems Of republican sultans is a systema
hzed and legalzed business. Is il crime to
break asunder all the ties Of human affection
to tear children from the arms Of their parents
and parents from each other There is no
conjugal or parental OF filial affection among
more than three millions Of people in this land
which is sacred from such violation Ii it a
crime to let murder and all other offences go
UNPUBLISHED! There is no form of crime which
a white man may not commit against "A slave
with entire impunity if he will take the pre-
caution to let none but slaves witness it. The
darkening of the intellect. the shrouding of a
soul in the gloom of ignorance, the forbldding
of spirit which God made in His own image
to commune with its Maker is more than
common criIne-it is sacrilege--it is the sacri-
lege Of sacrileges. Ii is Il crime which no other
nation on this carth-civlized. heather, or
barbaran-ever committed to the extent that
it is committed here. And vet this locking Of
the temple of knowledge against u whole race,
this drawing Of an impenetrable veil between
the soul of man and his Maker this rebellion
against all that God has done to reveal Him
self to His offspring through the works of ma
ture and the revelations of His providence, IL
enacted into laws guarded by terrible penal
ties and administered by men who call them
selves Christians as though Jesus Christ could
have subscribed or executed such laws. Ii IL
crime unspeakable to deprive men of the
Gospel and of freedom to interpret it but the
slave code does this by Withholding letters
from the slave and thus postpones the true
entranchisement and salvation of his soul to
another life, when he can no longer be of any
use to his earthly master. Would it he
crime to practice some demoniac art, by which
the growth of body and limbs should he arrest
cd in childhood and the victims should be left
with only intantile powers to conteud with
cold, nakedness, hunger and all the hosts OF
pain Then it is an infinitely greater crime
to inllict weakness and ignorance upon those
glorious faculties of the mind, by which alone
It's possessor can solve the mighty problems of
| future destiny of eternity, aud of the souls
veal or woe repeat. then, that the worst
forms of all the crimes which human being
can commit-thett robbery, murder, adultery,
incest sacrilege, and whatever else there il
that inAicts underwriting ruin upon society,
and brings the souls of men to perdtlOn-the
word slavery is the synonym of them all Ana
lyze slavery, and you will find its ingredients
| 10 consist of every crime. Define any crime,
and you Will find it to be Incorporated in sla-
very, and aggravated by it.
As the complex and infinite meaning of the
word Con cannot be adequately understood
until you analyze it. and divide and subdivide
it, and give To it the thousand names of ON
impotence and omnisCience, and omniprescncc
of infinite Justice and holiness and henevo-
lence, of all sancttles, and veritics and being
mites of all energies and beauties, of all Wis
dom and all law so when YOU penetrate and
lay open the infinite meaning OF the word SLA-
VERY, it resolves itself into all crimes and all
crueties, all debasements and all horrors. The
telescope of the astronomer resolves the star
dust OF the universe into retulgent systems that
glorify their Maker the telescope of the NOR
alist resolves the Tartarean cloud of slavery
into all the impieties and weaknesses that de
form humanity.
Now between these two great antagonlsms,
between God and the Right on side, and
Slavery and the Wrong on the other, these two
Baltimore Conventions have chosen the latter
They have said to Evil, be thou my Good.
They have voted to annul Gods laws. They
have resolved that discussions the great
question of human freedom which involves the
whole question of free agency and human az
countabilty and the entire plan and order Of
the Divine government shall be silenced.
So much for the intrinsic nature of slavery,
which the Baltimore Conventions have welded
Al. L. Lot lNp.I ~ ha
collateral wrongs, the disqualification and
atheism. for which slavery in this country il
responsible. and which those Conventions,
therefore have sanctioned and ratified and de-
clared their purpose to continue.
When n nation il born into the world pos
sessing the attributes and prerogatives of ma
tionalIty, it is the moral duty of existing ma
tons to welcome it into the brotherhood of the
human family. Such recognition of new
sovereignty tends to increase commerce. to
iorefend war, and to diifuse the blessings of
knowledge, science, and the arts Ii becomes
therefore, IA duty Yet, what is the posture in
which this Government stands to Liberia and
liaytit Great Britain, with France, Prussia,
and other continental nations, has acknowl-
edged their existence We refuse, and stand
ao0f And this for no other reason than to
crafty n coorophobia which breads equity ~
the hydrophObia does water. Writers on ma
tiOnal law call nations II moral entity. We
find color in II moral entity, and repudiate its
claims Contrast the alacrity of this Govern
ment in recognising slayeholding Texas, with
its utter refusal, for quarter OF II century in
one case, and for half century in the other,
to recognise the Free Soil Governments Of Ii
IBERIA and Hayti This is one of the collateral
wrongs growing out Of the rcpugnance of sla-
very to do Justice to the colored man any
where; and the faint of this moral disease ut
the South spreads its Infection over the North.
Mark "a great sign and ppooi of deprivation
in the public intellect, originating in the same
prolific source Of wrong. Tho blasphemous
argument has been put FORTH that God fore
ordained and instituted African slavery amongst
us for the ultimate and consequential purpose
of carrying civilization and Christianity into
Africa. Not only have the logic of the poll
ticinn and the ethics of the moralst been cor
rupted into this falslty, but even the divine,
with the prescrvativo power OF the Gospel OF
Jesus Christ in his hands, has endeayored t.
reconcile our people to the crimes and the
curses Of slavery by this impious argument.
They maintain that God has looked with com
placency upon all the atrocities of the African
slave trade that the groans and agonics Of the
Middle Passage have assembled rs sweet
smelling SAVIOR before His throne that He has
seen with approval, within the last three Gen.
turtles, forty millions of native Africans--yes,
sir, forty millions for that is the estimated
number-almost double the entire population
Of this country, and more than one-third more
than the present population of Great Britain
and ireland put together-of native Africans
torn from their homes and driven through
gates of fire and realms of torture, to bondage
and 10 death that during all this period, He
has looked with delight upon the most fright