The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1856-09-25

Unless Is enabled 70 live upon the accumulated Ia
Dor Of others you hold him bound 10 work and II he Will
not do 50 voluntarily your laws in view OF the general
good deprive him Of his liberty and compel him 70 per
form daily task have visited the workhouses Of your
large cities the seaboard and there coecye aDo
e1acted from your white felowctizens by the Identical
used at the South with slaves
have been informed that very few OF those men were
utterly vicious or deprayed tkat they generally kind
and well disposed and that all that could be said against
ost of them that they were poor and Incapable OF
voluntary e1eron to their daily bread although do
ing cbeefuy In cases the work required Of them
You find those Workhonses necessary and the necessity
increases with the number OF Oaters that float ON the sur
face population come here from abroad suppose
you had thrown in the midst Of you without any agency
Of your own Of loaiers numerous as you are
don't you think the necessity Of compulsory labor would
be very much increased and would you not in sede-
fence enforce In such the circumstances OF the
country might require The blacks are pre-eminenty
that OF loafers You know they SUCH and the
Legislatures of OF your States have acted upon that
knowledge by prohibiting the emigration OF persons oil
color Look where you will this continent and you
will find the free blacks everywhere the same idle care
less improyident race not all vicious and depraved-
far from i-but tending TO become SO, in consequence
Of their aversion TO regular labor you VIII further
find particularly where they live in separate commu-
mites that the civilization which they had acquired,
and the religion which had been taught them while they
slaves like exotics transpaned IN an ungenial
climate which forced culture alone keep alive and
that the restraints of slavery removed both
gradually decline until all traces Of them save the vices OF
civilized men lost This melancholy fact is not con-
fined to the blacks OF America. The Rev Mr. Wilson, in
his recent work Western Africa tells us that the king
dom Of Congo Christanzed and had made con-
siderable progress in civilization but after the influence
Of the Catholic missionaries the Chiefs by whom the
new religion enforced with African severity ceased to
be felt only did all traces Of it and OF the arts OF CIV
ized life disappear but the Congo tribe B at this day the
most deprayed aud barbarous in Western Africa. Such
seems be the fate of the negro everywhere Let emane
paed slaves form separate communities as IN sL domingo
and Jamaica and they sink below the level of African
ages let them be thrown upon their own resources In the
midst Of u.s. and they become oueass and inevitably
perish.
rioht If of the
Sonb TO retain the institution of slavery ii is proper that
ahoud -otce the argument against deduced rom the
Declaration o. Independence The present Speaker OF tne
House of yes In answer TO some questions put
To him before the Organization OF the House last winter
stated that he believed in the cactne OF the pecrauo
of Independence, that all men are aoi ifee anu eq
The gentleman appears TO have been IN ayiu Hooa
at the time but Others urge that Declaration aganst = y
good faith and their objection is entitled to respectful con-
sderation.
The men who signed the Declaration of Independence
were probably all owners OF slaves Have you ever heard
or read in the history of the time that on returning from
independence Hall the day was signed any OF the 10
use modern phrase rateTnized with Il cir black coach
men cooks Was the condition of single slave North
or Soth changed thereby In answering these quesuon
in the ave they must be- Mr. Banks and his friends
admit that n the intention of its amers the Declaration
of Independence however general the words used may De
did not include the slaves then in the country nor oo ~
as ia well known include the Indians or the free blacks
and although Young America may set up at their pleasure
ansavery god it is not n its power 10 make now IN
antsavery Declaration of lndepentence Htnou. "u eo
the Declaration of Independence and, playing with me
words it contains as child with his toys deduee rom
them whole system of moral science at war win the
morality the Gospel and the teachings Of the Redeemer
There is noIhing wonderful in that; II by thus
taking runcated passages of the Bible that the atheists
have proved there God and the Mormons that Christ
had wives but and judges do not indulge
in such atitudnarian interpretations to them the Deca
ration Of independence is the bill OF rights of the Ame
can peopea legal document TO be construed and inter
preted whole and according TO those rules OF law
strict adherence TO which in England and in this country
has placed individual liberty upon the only sure foundn
ton IL has ever had anywhere.
They will inquire what those rights which the Dec
laraon asserts and IN whose favor they were asserted
without regard 10 the generality OF the words used which
the impe-ecton OF language often renders unavoidable
and they will find that those expressions general as they
are simply the privileges Of British feemen in be
halt of the whi5s Inhabitants Of what had been till then the
British colonies The inhabitants of the colonies Of Ply
mouth Massachusetts in the infancy Of their establish
ments declared in equally general and absolute that
the free enjoyment Of the liberties which humanity, cvity
and Christianity called for due TO every man. and ex
planned their meaning BY further asserting that they brought
with them into this country the privileges OF British free
men, and defining those privileges with rare precision and
foresight Those rights reassertcd and declared
when these colonies received their charter and were
insisted upon by the other colonies and recognised In the
charters granted to them but always restricted 70 the
white nhabans IL for the infringement Of the same
privileges that the colonies long demonstrated and finally
reyoted and declared their independence The Declaration
OF Independence states the nstances-tweny-sx in num-
BERN which every OF those privileges had been yio
lated and IL with rence TO them alone that the dec
laraton that bor free and equal and have ina
henable rights, must be understood
The object Of the authors Of the Decaran not 70
enlarge the Of freedom and extend il 20 the wnoi hu
race visionary think now practicable 10 do
they not disciples Of Tom Paine or Of Jean Jacques
Rosseau their only object and aim English
liberty for the white man, who sone be benefited by
IT. they bad In contemplation not only British bon sub
lccs but all white who bad resided three years the
GO onie and had acquired the right Of citizenship by that
residence This equality between citizens whether native
naturRzed the democratic party st Acknowledges
and Eeintains but IL s far otherwise with you Of the
American and republican parties II any of you are here
present You dsfranchise white who do happen
TO be born in particular place 10 worship In parou
lar church Dekalb LsiAy ettc II alive would not
be equal In your eyes the native scavenRer
You only deny that the nAurazed citizens are your
equals but they not free where you in power Let
them attempt exercise the franchise Of citizen, and II
they German French, you deride and insult them
II Irish, you knock them down besides. But while you
90 this you transfer nominsly the blacks who have no
claim 10 them, the rights Of which you uuusy deprive the
whites and thus do violence in two ways the spirit and
intent Of the Declaration OF Independence We the
trary respect the rights OF the white man. and Rdheng
the eternal laws Of fact which in truth the laws Of Gods
providence in preference the shallow concets Of modern
philanthropy, believe that until God in his good
time shall make the blacks sensible the responsibilities OF
freedom II Is right in his eyes and necessary to the mane
Of public order to exact from them the labor which
they able TO perform and viii What the ultimate
fate Of that IL to be how orsee but God
subjected his people TO bondage OF four centuries In
the land Of Egypt reformer might well have patience
with until equal length Of time elapses since the intro
ducton Of African slavery In America While their present
condition lasts experience which our ancestors had not
We eoncede 10 the fullest the right Of every free
citizen Of and character have voice