, 1859-06-24


tects them. Our fathers made covenant
with their fathers. They came into the
Union with their African slaves on terms
of equality with us, and with all the rights
and privileges that we can claim under the
same instrument They would make no
covenant except upon terms Of equality.
We accepted those terms; We could get no
better to-day; and yet we should be glad
to make it, if it were not made, or to re-
new it, if broken, aud on the same condi-
tOns we now have. The South claim the
right to go into new territory, and try the
new land with their slaves, till the territory
becomes sovereign State, and then bow
to its will, as before all other. sovereignS.
This is Just and equitable claim, founded
on fair Interpretation Of the CONSTITUTION.
Slavery should be permitted~to flow by
natural laws to regions for which it is best
adapted. 1t will go nowhere else. You
could not force it into New Hampshire,
nor keep it there if introduced The eX-
pertinent has been tried and failed. Sa-
very was given up in the northern States
not by the force Of m0rai but natural laws.
1t is true the discussions OF the last
twenty-five years have produced a great
deal of sentiment on the subject of slavery
in the northern States; but you know how
utterly barren of any good results it has
been TO the African. In i0ords-and be-
cause their number is small-we have in
the extreme North given them the rights
of citizenship and equality; but in toorks we
deny them. The most respectable colored
men in Boston would not be permitted to
hire or to own and quietly enjoy pew in
the broad isle Of any fashionable church.
In the West, where your soil is more fer
tile, and where more free co!ored men
would be likely to go, you are more strin.
gent; and the black laws of Ohio, Illinois,
Iowa, and Oregon, and the still more ex-
pulsve Topeka constitution Of Kansas
for which, believe, you and all your re-
publican associates vOtrd-proelaim, as
with trumpet-tongue, the innate and inc
radicable prejudice against the African
lurking, us it still does, in the bosom Of
those whose tongues are eloquent for his
rights.
am not little surprised at the manner
in which you speak of Noah, The Bible
calls him "a just man, and perfect in bis
generations" aud yet because be, by Divine
inspiration and by Divine command, fore
told the slavery Of the children of Ham,
you give him some very hard thrusts, and
leave him on the pages Of your speech with
4 character 10y no means so fair as that
given him by the sacred historian. Was
Noah in the way of your theory, that You
strike at him so vigorously, as though you
would hew him down? You say he mis-
took Canaan for Ham. Suppose he did,
wherein some nation. The principle isl
the same in the Divine administration.
Who are the children of Cunaan2 Ira
ditioa and history unite in the belief that
they inhabit the continent of Africa. Their
condition ful6lls, with remarkable fidelity,
the prophecy of that righteous man aud
preacher Of righteousness" Noah. A SER
want of servants was the double curse,
which has rested on that continent and
race for many centuries. 1t is covered
with network Of double slavery-everyI
chief having his retiuue Of slaves, while he
puys tribute to some higher chief or petty
king.
You seem to lay great stress upon the
fact that tho Canaanites were not black
How do you know2 DR.. Thompson, who
has written, perhaps, the most thorough
work on Syria and Palestine that has ever
been published, says the ancient inhabitants
Of that country came from Africa. The
great painting Of Samson grinding in the
mill shows his Philstine drivers very dark,
if not black. But you miss the point OF
the Scriptural precedent aud example for
slavery. You prove, as you think, that
the CanaNnites were not black, and then
jump at once to the conclusion that, if they
were not black, they must have been en-
slaved because they were ldbOriag men.
This does very well to stir up prejudice At
the North; but is it the truth ? The Isra-
elites were permitted to enslave the Ca
nauuites not because they were laborng
men, but because they were heathen, aud
therby SO degraded that transfer to the
Hebrew Commonwealth, where the true
God was worshiped, was q privilege and u
blessing.
This furnishes the parallel point on
which American Shareholders rely with
great confidence The Africans were ta-
ken from the most degraded heathenism,
and are here taught to worship the true
God; and, in the opinion of every Bible
man, more Of them have been fitted for
aud gone to heaven from the thousands in
America than from the millions in Africa.
DR.. Dwight said, after loug experience aud
wide observation, that he never knew but
one lazy man converted. Aud as God had
some chosen people in Africa, it was nee
essary that they shonld be taught to work
in order to their conversion. But in the
Sonth they are not allowed to read the
Bible. Well, in Africa, they neither read
it, hear of it, nor from it. Faith cometh
by hearing: and is it not better to hear the
truth than to live entirely destitute Of it 2
You quote the eighth commandment as
a prohibition Of slavery This is singular
Were your ancestors thieves? They
lNs1. L. 4 -