The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-09-02

u
eyes rested upon the glowing ensign, what cur
rents must have rushed swiftly through his
soul! In the early days of the Revolution, in
those darkest hours about Boston. after the bat
tie of Bunker Hill, and before the Declaration
of Independence the thirteen stripes had been
first unfurled by him, as the emblem of Union
among the Colonies for The sake of Freedom.
BY him, at that time, they had bcen named the
Union Flag. Trial struggle, and war, were
now ended, and the Union, which they first
heralded, was unalterably established. To
every beholder these memories must have been
full of pride and consolation. But looking
back upon the scene, there is one circumstance
which, more than all its other associations,
fills the sOul-more even than the suggestions
of Union which | prize so much Ar THIS
MOMENT, WHEN WASHINGTON TOOK HIS FIRST
OATH TO SUPPORT THE CONSTITUTION OF THE
UNITED STATES THE NATIONAL ENSIGN, NO.
WHERE WITHIN THE NATIONAL TERRITORY,
COVERED SINGLE SLAVE. Then, indeed, was
Slavery sectional and Freedom national
On the sea, an execrable piracy, the trade in
slaves, was STILL 10 the national scandal tole-
rated under the national flag. In the States,
az sectional institution, beneath the shelter
of local laws, Slavery unhappily found home.
But In the only territories at this time belong
ing to the Nation, the broad region of the North
west 1T had already by the Ordinance Of Free
dom, been made impossible, even before the
adoption Of the Constitution. The District of
Columbia, with its fatal incumbrance had not
yet been acquired.
The Government thus organized was Anti
Slavery in character. Washington was a slave
holder but it would be unjust to his memory
not to say that he was an Aboltionist also
His opinions do not admit of question Only a
short time before the formation of the National
Constitution he had declared, by letter, "tbat
it was among his first wishes to sec some plan
adopted by which Slavery may be abolished
by law" and again, in another letter, " that
in support of any legislative measure for the
abolition of slavery. his suffrage should not be
wanting" and still further, in conversation
with distinguished European Abolitionist q
travelling propagandst of Freedom, Brssot DE-
Warville, recently welcomed to Mount Vernon
he had openly announced, that to promote Thu
object in Virginia he desired the formation
Of a SOCIETY, and that he would second it.
BY this authentic testimony, he takes his place
with the early patrons of Abolition societies
By the side of Washington, as standing be-
meath the national flag he swore to support
the Constitution, were illustriOus men, whose
lives and recorded words now rise in judg
ment There was John Adams, the Vice Pres
ident-great indicator and final negotiation
of our national ndependence-whose soul
flaming with freedom, broke forth in the early
declaration that "eonsenting to Slavery is a
sacrilegious breach of trust" and whose immiti
gable hostility to this wrong has been made i'm
mortal in his das adants. There also was a
companion in arms and attached friend of in
comparable genius, the yet youthful Hamilton
who, as member of the Abolition Society OF
New York, had only recently united in a
solemn petition for those who "though free bi
the lars Of God, are held in Slavery by The ldr'
of the State" There too, was a noble spirit
the ornament OF his country the exemplar OF
courage, truth, and virtue, who, like the sun
ever held an unerring course, John Jay Fill
ing the important post of Minister of Foreign
Affairs under the Confederation, he found time
to organize the Abolition Society of New York
and to act as its President until, by the nomi.
nation of Washington, he became Chief Justice
of tho United States. In his SIGHT Slavery was
an "iniquity," "a sin of crimson dye, agains
which ministers of the gospel should testify, an,
which the Government should seek in every wa,
to abolish. Were in the Legislature" IA
wrote, IL would present bill for this purpos
| with great care, and would never cease movn
it till it became law or ! ceased to be mem
| Der. Till America comes into this measure
her prayers to Heaven will be impious."
But they were not alone The conviction
and earnest aspirations of the country wer,
with them. At the North these were broad
Il 4 tha fbau
! utterance from shareholders BY early anC
| precocious efforts for "total emancipation" the
Author of the Declaration of independence
placed himself foremost among the Abolition.
lists of the land. In language now familiar to
all. and which can never die, he perpetually
denounced Slavery. He exposed its pernicious
influences upon master as well as slave de-
clared that the love of justice and the love OF
country pleaded equally for the slave, and that
the abolition of domestic slavery was the
greatest object of desire" He believed that
the "sacred side was gaining daily recruits"
and confidently looked to the young for the
accomplishment of this good work. In ttful
sympathy with Jefferson was another honored
son of Virginia, the Orator of Liberty, Patrick
Henry, who, while confessing that he was n
master of slaves, said; 81 will not cannot
Justify it, However culpable my conduct |
will 80 far pay my devoir to virtue as to own
the excellence and rectitude of her precepts,
and lament my want Of conformity to them"
At this very period in the Legislature of Mary
land on bill for the relief of oppressed slaves,
a young man, afterwards by his cOnsummate
learning and forensic powers the acknowledged
head of the American bar, William Pinkney,
in speech of earnest, truthful ooquence-bet-
ter far for his memory than his transcendent
professional famc-branded Slavery AZ iniqu-
tOus and most dshonorable - founded in a
disgraceful traffic ~ "as shameful in its con-
tinuance rs in it's origin" and he openly de-
clared, that, "by the eternal principles of nat
ural justice, no master in the State has right
to hold his slave in bondage single hour"
Thus mt this time spoke the NATION. The
CHURCH also joined its voice And here, amidst
the divcrsties of religious faith, it is nsh uctive
to observe the general accord. The Quakers first
bore their testimony. At the adoption Of the
Constitution their whole body under the early
teaching of George Fox, and by the browning
exertions of Benezet and Woolman, had become
an organized band of Aboltionists, penetrated
by the conviction that it was unlawful to hold
"a fellow-man in bondage. The Methodists,
numerous, earnest, and faithful never ceased by
their preachers to proclaim the same truth.
Their rules in 1888 denounced in formal Ian
guage "the buying or selling of bodies and
souls of men, women, and children, with an in
tention to enslave them" The words of their
great apostle, John Wesley, were constantly
repeated On the eve Of the National Conyen-
ton, the burning tract was circulated in which
he exposes American slavery as the yilest of
the world-"snch Slavery as is not found
among the Turks at Algiers and, after de-
clarng "liberty the birthright Of every human
creature, of which no human law can deprive
him." he pleads: "If therefore, you have any
regard to justice, to say nothing Of mercy or
the revealed law Of God, render unto all their
due. Give liberty to whom liberty is due that
*, TO every child Of man, TO every partaker of
human, naAurnU Az lLa aa..,a g. A. D.