The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-07-12
Reported for the National Era.
THE SLAVERY QUESTION,
In its Precise Relation to American Politics.
Speech dsliraed bsor' STATE CorsntOn at Indianapolis
BY THE HON. @. W. JULIAN.

BY THE HON. @. ". JULIAN.
Mr.. President, and FeIlotc- Citizens:
I confess to some degree Of embarrassment
in approaching the discussion of the Slavery
question at this crisis in its history. 1t has
assumed an attitude so novel and peculiar in
its relations to American Politics, and is so
complicated with strange and alien elements,
that can scarcely hope to present my views of
present duty without giving offence to some,
and perhaps arousing a certain antagonism
among those who have heretofore walked to-
gether as brethren. Ny task is a delicate one
and / regret, sincerely, the causes that have
made 1t so. | shall, however, in the exercise
of free speech, and with that plainness which
am accustomed to employ, give utterance to
my own deliberate convictions, holding no man
or party responsible for them, and only asking,
in their behalf, such considerations as they may
be entitled to receive at your hands.
/ desire to address myself, to-day, to Anti
Slavery men and / begin by remarking that
the grand obstacle to the spread of free prnci-
Piles is the lack of a just comprehension of our
movement 1t is not only grossly misconceived
by the great body of the people, but many, !
fear, who are set apart by common consent as
its peculiar friends, either do not understand,
or perceive but dimly, its real magnitude. The
cause of Human Rights is not one to be drag
ged down to the level of our current politics,
and COMPOUNDED with the strife of parties aud
the schemes of place-hunters. 1t is not to be
hawked about in the political market, and ad-
vocated with a zeal which instantly expires
when the temporary occasion of 1t has disap-
peared We dishonor the cause, and bring
our own integrity into question, when we suffer
it to be placed alongside of the comparatively
trifing and ephemeral questions of the day,
and to be dealt with as such, instead of eleva-
ting it to the dignity Of great moral enter
prise, to be steadily prosecuted, whether honor,
advantage, and immediate success, on the one
hand, or obloquy, suffering, and present defeat,
on the other, shall be the result of our fidelity
The question of Human Freedom is not a ques-
ton of one nation, or one race, but of all ma
tons, and all races. Ours is pre-eminently a
Christian movement. Its grand idea, its CEN
trail, Gfe-giving principle, is the equal brother
hood of all men before their common Father
in Heaven; and its mission is the practical
vndication of this truth. We are to make it
the animating spirit of the religion, the moral
ity, and the politics, of this nation. We are to
rescue the doctrine of common brotherhood
from the limbo of unmeaning distractions, and
make it incarnate in the popular heart. zone
God, one Humanity, one Love from All for
All"-this is the platform of the Aboltionist,
and this is the platform of the Christian. The
work we are striving to accomplish, therefore,
comedies with Christianity itself. The obsta-
cles which oppose the liberation of three and a
half millions of American slaves, are the obsta-
cles which oppose every enterprise looking to
the reign of "peace on earth, and good will to
men," Contempt for humanity is the founda-
ZION of Slavery, and of every species of oppres.
- 49, u
foundation of Freedom, and the grand con-
ition of the worlds advancement. Abrogate
the inidel law of Hate which regards man as
child of the devil, and enthrone in its stead
the Christian law of Love, which reverences
MIN as the child and moral likeness of his
Maker, and not only will the chains OF the slave
tall asunder, but the curses of land monopoly,
the cruel exactions of capital over labor, the
cold-blooded rapacity of avarice, and every
other form of "man's inhumanity to man."
will be sent bowling from the face Of the earth
Here, Mr.. Chairman, on the great Rock of
Christianity, and on no narrower Trailer found
alton, should we erect the altar of Freedom, and
mere should we offer up our sacrifices. This is
he only true stand point for the Anti-Savery
party in the United States, and we should reso-
lutely and unitedly maintain it, in the face of
all opposition. Principles and policy alike re-
Iuire that we stand on Christian ground, and
on no account should we forego a position
which alone can render our cause impregnable,
and which is so much needed TO cheer us under
Che many discouragements to which it is per-
petually subjected. We are branded as infdels.
Let us say to the world that we wage war
against Slavery because zoe are Christians, and
that to US rightfully belongs the prerogatve Of
sitting in judgment upon the popular religion
C tho onI ~
ing to its fidelity or its infdety to the great
doctrine of human brotherhood. We are up
braided with having but "one idea" Let us
reply, that we borrowed it from the New Tesla
ment, in which we find it appealing to us as
the i" one idea" of the Founder of our religion,
and that that idea is large enough to compre-
hend the moral universe. We are charged
with an undue measure of zeal in the advocacy
of our cause. Let us answer, that the system
of American Slavery is the hugest and most
frightful denial of the central truth of our reli-
gious faith, the most atrocious libel upon Just
ice and Humanity, that now confronts Heaven
on any part of our globe. We are reproached
with our weakness as a party, and sometimes
our own doubling hearts whisper to us that our
struggles have proved but so many failures.
Let US remember, that so holy an enterprise
must necessarily encounter every form of hu-
man selfishness, and be subject to those con-
dtions by which every other good work has
been retarded that, in the nature of things, it
can only keep pace with the gradual but slow
progress of Christian principles in the commu-
nifty; and while we thus learn a lesson of pa
thence, let US ever bear in mind that Heaven IL
self is pledged to the ultimate success of our
sincere endeavors.
That our movement is not understood, not
uniformly referred to the grand principle which
underlies it, seems quite evident, from the want
of any deep and pervading conviction of the
wrongfulness of Slavery, among the people of
the free States. Our adherence of the institu.
ton is from the lips, and not from the heart.
We do not hate it with an earnest and robust
hatred that goes out into deeds, but with a
sickly and superficial aversion, that yields no
result, unless it be to debauch the conscience.
We hate the negro with practical vengeance.
1t is no counterfeit, no mere disguise, but a
blighting, scathing, ever-preseDt hatred, under
which the colored race withers and is consumed
in our midst. Ask the people of Indiana if
they hate Slavery, and they will point you to
their Constitution and laws forbidding colored
men from coming into the State, denying those
who are in the right of suffrage, taxing them to
support the Government, whilst refusing them
any share in the school fund, forbidding them
10 testify In our courts, anu even questioning
heir right to travel on our railways. Ask the
people of Illinois the question, and they will
point to a still blacker code than that of their
adjoining neighbor. Do the people of Ohio
nate Slavery? The General School Board of
he chief city of the State recently sanctioned
he exclusion of tohite lad from one of its
schools, because one thirty-second part of the
blood in his veins was understood to be of Afri-
IAN extractionl Sir, the lamentable truth is,
hat the unchristian spirit of Caste is the domi-
lant spirit in the religious, political, and social
Institutions of the non-slaveholding States. Has