Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1850-1854, 1852-01-09
SEaasT ssfiTH VS.. KIDNAPPING.
PErERBoRo', Nov. %, 1851.

L much regret that one, who, in the various
professional services, which he has rendered me,
has, always, shown himself TO be strong and Just
and faithful, and from whom the public are ac-
customed to expect proofs OF wisdom and integ-
rity, should have written that letter. Among
the positions fairly deducible are the following ::
lst To be IAN abotionist, little if any short
of Gerris Smith" is to be disqualified for civil
office.
Cd. A cordial" enforcement OF the Fugitive
Slave Law" is our duty.
Sd. Such enforcement is ''patriotic," and 1.-The
salvation of the Union depends upon IT,
4th. The law is Constitutional.
lpropose to examine, very briefly, the merits
Of these four positions.
lst OF course, you do not mean that every
aboitiouist is unfit for civil Office for if grave
ly questioned, you would be constrained TO ad-
nit, that all men are abolitonists. To serve a
temporary purpose, and have little fun, you
might join at your supper table in laughing at the
abolitons,s. But, if, three hours after, band
Of kipnappcrs should burst into your bedroom
and load YOU with manacles and letters, and as
sure your, that the remainder Of your life is TO
be spent under the lash of the tasksnGser, upon
Southern plantation, your pallid checks, and
quakng limbs, and screams for help, would leave
no room to doubt, TINT you are al abotionist, and
that personal liberty is dear TO you, as it is to
any one. Moreover it would avail nothing to-
ward soothing your alarms, and reconclling you
to your fate, TO remind you, that your reduction
to slavery is all according TO the "Compromise"
and to the Union Safety Committee" Curses
upon tho compromise and upon the "Cnion
Safety Committee would break out between your
chauering teeth. The "fugitive slave law"
which by your present admission, Is, OF oil the
- AL, clr,u
and sacred in your esteem, would, then, be "par-
ticularly" your execration. You would, if you
could drive Il back to The bottomless pit, from
whence it came And, as to the Constitution,
humbly as you bow TO its authority now, you
would struggle none the less against your doom,
even though your oppressors should be able TO
read from it the Justification Of your DOOM
Constitution or no Constitution, you would re-
lease yourselfit you could. Now, too, you can
fling Jokes and jibes at the higher law doctrine"
But, then, YOU would be no more in tho mood OF
Joking and iibing than was poor lorick' S crumb-
ling scull. To the claims Of the infinitely high
and liberty -proclaiming law Of your nature, and
of you. nature i God, there would then be rush
ing response Of your whole soul. And much Us
YOU now, preach submission 10 the laws, and
non-resstance to kidnappers, you would be in
mood, then, TO welcome such preaching to your
self There lives not q man, who would IN such
circumstances, have bettor stomach than your
self for shooting and stabbing.
said, that, III these testing circumstances,
Won would give full proof, that you are an abo-
,ionis The STAKEHOLDER himself is On abol-
tionsts. There is not one slaveholderj wh5 is
not an an sbolitionisi; and who, under such an
argun1cntum dd hOminenl, as have supPoscdin
your case; would not betrsy his abolition, and
come forth an abolitionist. Every dead slave
holder died an abolitonist and the sin upon his
soul of having held HIS fellow men in slavery
was aggravated by nothing so much, as his own
consciousness of the truth of abolition and ofthe
preciousness of personal liberty: by nothing, in
a word, so much, as by the fact, that he was
himself an abolitionist-an abolitionist by the it,
repressible desires of his heart and the rrepeal-
able laws of his being.
Wherein, thon, is it, that You aud tho slave
holder are abolitonsts "short of Gcrrit Smith f'
1t is in fact, that, whilst you and the STAKEHOLDER
90, each of you contend for abolition for himsef,
Gerrit Smith contends, for it both for himself and
for others.
Your doctrine, then, "a itturns out, is that the
ab )tion, which man may have, and yet be fit
for civil office is that which thinks its own ,ck,
but not the necks of others too good fox the yoke
of slavery and that the abolition, which disquali-
fies for civil office, is that which acknowledges
the equal right of all men, and will, therefore,
consent to the enslsvement OF no man. Such is
your doctrine! A monstrous doctrine, Mr. Spen-
Ger! Yet a while, in this hand Of sham repub-
licanism and sham christianity, it may be tolcra-
ed-may, even be popular but how abhorrent
would it be in any country, where there is no
slavery to dcbauch and pervcrt the public sonti-
ment!
will close what | have to say under this head
with the remark, that your disposition 10 enslave
others while you would resist to the utmost, the
OF yourself, IL not nexp licabie.--
Jesus Christ has taught, but you have never
learned. the eelfappliCation mode of reasoning
"Thcrefore all things whatsoever ye would, that
men should do to you, do yc even so to them
Had YOU learned it, you would have known, that
YOU must first be content to wear the chains of
slavery Yourself ere you are at liberty to COM
mend them TO others Had you learned it, you
would not have gone into the conspiracy to plum
der others of their liberty, whilst you were willing
to die a thousand deaths sooner than surrender
your own.
%. And SO you would chase down innocent
men, women and children, to plnnGe them into oil
the woes Of the bottomless pit of slavery And
YOU would DO this not rcluctauty--not because
to do it--but would do il ''cordialy :"
Moreover, to be consistent with your christian
profession (for in this country, even the adyo-
Gates Of slavc-caiching make q christian pro-
fesson) you take Jesus Chist for your model
man and do, therefore, believe, that, were lIe now
among u.s. He woulllead in this bloodhouudchasc.
Very ignorant Of christianity is he, who supposes
that Christ would revolt at any circumstances or
employments, in which i. is popcr for His die
ciples to be.
Blu, have no, yet done with your responsi-
bill,ies in this case. When yon advocate this
chasing down of Christs innocent helpless poor,
YOU advocate the chasing down o: Himself
Your pro-slayery Divnes would make yon be-
Iicve, that the Redecmer Of men is Himself pro-
slavery, and in favor Of that hunting for human
prey, which is now goiEg on in our land. Bot
a, the Judgment Sea: you will learn theology
from other lips There you will learn, that the
wrongs, which are done "the least Of these,
land who and such, il our despised, and ouirag.
ed are bought and sold colored brethren are noi?)
are wrongs done TO Him. The convention and
current christianity Of this country makes Christ
the patron of oppressors but true christianity
inden;iies Him with the oppressed. If Chris
,ani,y teaches anything, il teaches tia, the crime
Of dragging Hamlet and Long and Bou!ding and
Harrison from this State into slavery was tho
crime OF dragging Jesus Christ into slavery 1t
does not more certainly, however, teach this than
il does, that the noble men Of Syracuse, who res
cued Jerry from slavery, This, amid the iUju-
ries, which wicked men are now heaping upon
- l. IL. l., lott aid