The weekly Anglo-African. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1859-1861, 1859-10-22
WHO Is FOR SLAVERY?


"He who is not for slavery is against it,
and must take his station accordingly" This
remarkable language serves as a clincher
of very remarkably able letter of one of
our correspondents, W. J. Watkins, under
date of September 9Th. The proposition
is, to use common phrase, swell put"-so
much SO that, at first view, it seems as true
as it is plausible. We wish it were true,
and we are sorry to disagree with our cor
respondent so far as to say we are satisfied
that it is not. We wish it were true, for
in that case we would know exactly where
to find men. We could tell the exact po-
sition of the whole slave question-put our
finger on the precise beginning, the mid
die, and know to certainty when we had
arrived at the end. We wish, for the sake
of harmony Of views, if for no other pur-
pose, we could accept our correspondents
fne-turned, beautifully-rounded, and neat
ly-itted proposition. But, for truths sake,
and for the causes sake-that cause we are
all bound to serve with our best ability
we must beg to reject it.
We affirm that she who is not for slave
ryn is not always against it; and just here
is the precise point of our difference. There
is middle ground, in which are large
and active class-the largest class in the
country. The field in which this class op-
crate is largely far the largest of either
of the other extremes; and SO loose are the
bars between it and them that the opera
tors continually and imperceptibly slide
from one to the other as circumstances die
tate Now they are found actively on the
side of slavery, now feebly against it; now
no, not neutral, for that is impossible.
Ask almost any one of them if he is really
in favor of slavery, and he will promptly
answer you "No,' and in this you believe
him.
There is not one man in twenty who is,
at heart, in favor of enslaving men, wo-
men, and children-in favor of all the mis-
cries and horrors attendant upon that en-
slavement They are not against it, SIM
ply because their habits, their business,
their bread, their social connections, their
political ENHANCEMENT favor or compel au
opposite course. One man has married him
a wife and plantation Of negroes, and an
other has bad debt, and must needs take
negroes as security; another is dependant
upon some Southern or Northern slave
master for his daily bread, and another has
his eyes upon political preferment-per-
haps upon his very knees begging for
political post-and must, of a certainty, |
throw up his hands in favor of slavery.
1t is just this class, who are made to IA
vor slavery, while they are really not in
favor of it, that we wish to reach. We
wish to deny them the privilege of skulk-
ing behind our correspondents proposition
that che who is not for slavery is against
it, and must take his station accordingly"
We wish to drag them forth from their
lurking place, and set them on their proper
ground, and retain them there so that they
may be seen, and moreover, see themselves
as others see them.
The two extreme wings of the country
the one really and actively for, and the
other really, at heart and in action, against
slavery-are as yet, if not comparatively
insignificant, certainly palpable and plain.
We know where to find them. But it is
this middle class with which we have to
deal-the class in which the great moral
and political change is to be wrought. We
must convince them Of the untenableness
of their position, and the utter necessity OF
right doing, for their own and their coun-
try's ultimate good. The only true doc
trine on this subject is this +: He who is
not against slavery, in speech, act, and
thought, in season, and out of season, is,
in reality, for slavery.