The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-08-26
PHYSICIAN, HEAL THYsELF,"

ference of conditions among them are favorable
for any party, except such as relate them In
helpful correspondence to each other. All hos
tilities are mutually destructive. The laws ot
chemistry are laws of dead matter, and their
work is death An acid destroys an alkal
and is itself DESTROYED Neither of the ee-
ments properly survives the conflict. The
changes of mere matter are transformations ;
but in the domain of life, all reciprocal action
is for growth and development its aim is per-
lection, and the law is harmony. Everywhere
in living nature the individuals of IL kind are
at peace with each other and rs the rank and
endowments rise in dignity and excellence, So
cial relations grow, with equal pace, more nu-
merous, intimate and benefcent. But the
principle of liberty enters the system Of exist
ence along with vitality, grows with its growth
and strengthens with its strength, and disorder
and strife become possible in correspondent
augmentation Still, the scheme OF life is
unity, and its policy is peace and the law OF
harmony must be obeyed or it will be yindl-
Gated by its natural penalties-not that VEN
geance is the end, for the sovereign purpose IL
not more defeated by rebellion itself than by
the punshments which correct it. He'll is a
continued instruction, and humiliation would
be utter failure and its completest acknowledge
ment. Suffering is the corrective OF evil, and
the discipline of the wrong-doer, that, in the
end good may prevail or, as st. Paul has it.
God may be all in all, when all things shall
be subdued unto Him To the working of this
grand scheme it is obviously essential that SER
vice and sacrifice be rendered by the higher to
the lower; that the elder shall serve the
younger, the angels minister to the heirs of
salvation, and the Divine atone for all. The
great law of our life, the righteousness which
is of God by faith, in the apostles apprehen-
sion, is that the disciple "may know the te-
lowship of His su6erings being made conform
able to his death, /" and I'LL up that which is be-
hind of the affections Of Christ
This doctrine of human redemption has been
rendered vague and mystical by theological
speculations; but it is based in nature and ne
OtonitN hhu HiuSo DC uuuCIotOu bCiOiC VIC Chii
have the rule of duty or guide of policy for the
aims of social benevolence The idea is, that
it is the Office of the wise to instruct the igno-
rant, and of the strong to help the weak; for
the fact is, that they can be enlightened and
strengthened in no other way. 1t is this moral
necessity that dedcates the good to the service
of the evil that sends the disciples out as sheep
among wolves that compels the surrender of
life to the tolls of study, the sacrifices of be-
nevoence to death on the battle field, or at the
martyrs stake, and gives us all the forms of
heroism which we worship among men.
This being the economy, the policy, of the
social system, what are its requirements and
the conditions of its success, in any enterprise
of civil or political amendment of the condition
Of one class of men by the agency Of another
If be the system of domestic slavery, such as
exists among us, which is to be remedied, it is
clear that TO be capable of the work, we must
not only feel the wrong and design the relief
but we must know the means and possess or
provide the conditions which shall avail in
practice for the purpose
How does the case lie before us. We are
politically free rs individuals and independent
as a nation. The slaves are denied every civil
and political right of human beings by our
only sagacious animals to themselves. Are we
qualified for their elevation, and are our nsti-
tutons capable of receiving them into the free
dom which we contemplate for them
Legal emancipation might be effected in sew
cral ways. BY legislation Of the constitutional
majorties, enforced by the peaceful powers of
fundamentally force of arms, employed by
the free people of the nation in the compulson
of the masters-by successful servle insurrec-
tion--by colonization, and by other means, or
several of these combined The relation of
master and slave could be dissolved by either
of these methods; and if the right Of freedom
were perfect and the aim could certainly be
well secured, the presidents which the world
respects would warrant any of them, and they
would be both allowable and obligatory upon
the parties who possessed the power. But it is
felt that there is something in several of these
possible plans which forbids their adoption
No sound heart or clear head would consent to
civil war; much less to servlc Instruction to
effect the object. The reasoning which just-
ties our own national revolution does not satisfy
the conditions of this case The abstract right
is the same, in both white and black men, for
their ultimate destiny is the same, and the
highest interests of each demand equally ia
yorable institutions and order Why, then, do
we pause, both in thought and action
! think the true reason is that We are not
fit, and that our civil and social economy is not
adjusted to the necessities of the enterprise
Our own Liberties stand upon the principle
that all men are created equal, and our insti-
tutions in theory recognise the right of self
government in every human being We pro-
vide for the impracticable exceptions, however,
by our laws which exclude infancy and woman
hood from participation in the administration
OF the Government and we run the risk of in
competency among adult white men, in the con-
fidence that there is safety in the majority.
For, after all, it is only legal fiction that
every man is his own governor, and assents to
the laws which he must obey. Only he-ftth
of the entire population of New York have the
right of suffrage and, Of course the State is
governed by one-tenth of its people.
Our American republicanism is therefore,
much narrower than the sweep of its theoret-
ical maxims, and our institutions in no toera-
bic measure cover the ground of their basis
and it is this very point Of incompetency for the
functions of government which breaks the cor
respondence Still we hold by the principle
none the less that we refuse its proper force in