Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1859-03-31

tney bDOulu ComPt WIN u PfeoCttucu fttuci
lGod explicitly declared thar he -wouid sts,
i every native born Jew that did not compi,
with the provisions of their charter. Now,
desire to inquire of those who claim th'
right to hold slaves under this old charte
given to the Jews. Have you complied will
the requis ilions of that charter! Do you alb
stain from Virginia ham and other swine.
fheeha Do you observe the new moons. the
/ sabbaths, circumcision, and the appointed
feasts' II not, you are no Jew, and are no
entitled to the franchises of Jew; but or
the other hand you belong to the Gentle
race, who, according to your theory, wers
! ot right made slaves. If the advocates o.
Slavery choose to go back and place them
selves under code of laws given to race
of men evidently yet in state of barbar.
abide by it, and obey it. Another state.
ment. II the Bible sanctions Slavery a,
all, it is the tnslaveNent of white men,
No one pretends that the servants spoken
of in the Bible were blacks. The. Roman
slave was not black man. The Hebrew
servant was not black man. The ques-
-tion is, whether the laboring man, white CT
black. may rgbtfully be enslaved. ..
may as well notice, here, that worn-out
quotation enormously placed on Ham,
Noah planted vineyard, raised some grapes,
made some wine, and got drunk. When he
walked up, still tuddled with the flames OF
the wine, soto uoce, SO confused he did not
know his son from his grandson, he uttered
the maledietion, "cursed be Canaan" not
Ham, who had been guilty of the wrong
And now, in the blaze of the nineteenth
century, with the radiance of Christianity
shining around. Democrats go mousing back
five thousand years to learn the basis of
human rights from the lips of a man still
half drunk Cursed be Canaan" is ever.
more the refrain of Democratic minstrelsy
And now to the Bible. will not detain
the Committee long, for have no patience
with the impiely that attempts to throw the
sanction of this holy book around the dia-
bolical system Of American Slavery. What
says this inspired volume! "Thou shalt
not stealI" Brief, comprehensive, and to
the point This must be taken from the
Bible, before it can be made to sanction
Slavery. Does this forbid my taking my
neighbor's horse, but allow me to reduce
the man to slave, and then claim them
both! How much better is nan than q
sheep! If am tod that Slavery is not
theft, because the felonious intent is not
there, | reply, as the gentleman from Geor
gis replied, who has in former years on this
floor attempted 10 justify Slavery on the
authority OF the Scriptures. He declared
that the act of Pauldng in arres.ing the
marauder, Walker, was an act Uf robbery.
Some one replied, that it could not be rob-
berry, for there was no felonious intent
The gentleman from Georgia rejoined, 81
said robbery; did not say legal robbery"
So Lsav theft; do not say legal theft -es
sbou. the moral. not the legal, character OF
Slavery. The title 10 every slave originated
in violence and robbery and its continue nee
has no other moral character. There can
be no mistake about the rightful ownership
of human being. He belongs to himself
Because my father or mother was reduced
to the condi;ion of slave, does that justify
my being reduced to the same condtiCn OF
brutism! Does The continuance of wrong
toke away its guilt. repeat, there can
De no doubt as to the ownership of any hI-
nan beng. The title is in himself. To
take it from him is robbery. But We have
a specific statute on this subject. "He that
stealeth man and seleth him, or If he be
found in his lands" that is, in his posses
sion, she shall surely be put to DEATH
This enactment takes this transaction out
of the catalogue of ordinary crime. and
brands it with peculiar reprobation. Other
forms of theft could be atoned for by re
| turning four fold; this claimed the forfeiture
of life itsel', thus making it capital Of
fence. No squirming of sophistry can get
around this. There it stands, the estimate
Of the Jewish Scriptures of the crime OF
trafficklng in human flesh. So once thought
The Presbyterian church, when they declar-
ed slavehoiding to be vocation of the
! eighth commandment. So thought Presi-
| dent Edw ards, when he declared the slave,
I
This was the constitutional law of the Jew
ish Commonwealth. No other statute could
contravene it, any more than a State OF
Territorial law could annul provision Of
the Constitution of the United States. All
the instances O. buying and selling relied
upon by the advocates of Slavery are con.
fined TO the person bought and sold.
person '.faHing into decay" sold himself
not as chattel or slave, but as a servant
for a term of years; and when the jubilee
came round, liberty was proclaimed through
out all the LAND, to all the inhabitants there
OF. When there was failure on the par
of the people to proclaim this liberty, prom
/ ised and secured by law, then God proclaim
ed liberty to them to the sword, and t.
} the pestilence, and those other judgment
that fell swift and terrific from the hand O
an incensed God. 1t was this providentia
retrbution which made jefferson trembl
2 for his country, when he remembered tha
God was just, and that his justice woul
D not sleep forever. In the uprising of thes
S oppressed millions, he averred that no at
t tribute of Jehovah could take sides wit
the oppressor.
= Honor thy father and thy mother, is tn
s requirement of the Bible. Slavery utterl
annuls this command. The owner claim
honor and obedience, to the utter disregar
: of paren al authority and parental claim:
Whoever thinks of slave child obeying hi
r parent in preference to his masterl Th
= very suggestion is preposterons. Does tn
s Bible sanction system that abrogstes i,
= own injunctions!
IA There stands the slava pootbor nra..;r