The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-03-17

| the presence OF any anger preacher. lnlS HAL
must have been good, sound, national Demo
crat. And SO, suppose, was that lllustrious
parsonage whom Milton has described as bridg-
| ing the chasm that spread between earth and
| the place of his exile, and who claimed the
right of carving the local institutions of his
realm into Paradise.
And this reminds me to say that the Demo
cratic party, led on by this insane fanaticism,
which holds Slavery to be morally right, under
the guidance of political harlequin and trick
ster, has proclaimed the constitutional right OF
Slavery to go into the Territories without let OF
hindrance. Plighted national faith is broken
and dishonored! Principles once declared
sacred by this very leader, and said to be can
onized in the hearts of the American people,
are ruthlessly and recklessly trampled under
foot. We had an angel of Liberty stationed at
the portals of our Territories. For thirty years,
this sentinel had kept watch and ward, and
guarded that magnificent domain as the herit-
age of Freedom, and, with the flaming sword OF
the ordinance of the patriots of the olden time,
kept out Slavery from this Eden. Who chased
away this angel, and broke down the walls that
enclosed that empire, consecrated 10 the sons
and daughters of Freedom as dwelling place
and home, as long as the sun and moon should
endure? Who did this ruthless, reckless,
damnable work? The Democratic party. under
the leadership of the individual have indicated.
Under what plea was Slavery thus allowed to
enter in and ravage the heritage of Freedom
On the same ground that the mailman opens
the pest house to let leprosy, plague, and cholera
rush forth, as did the winds from the fabulous
cave, to walk at midnight and waste at noon
day. A man with a contagious disease must
not stay in his own house, nor be confined in
the hospital, but must be allowed to roam
abroad, to spread disease and death among his
fellow men! What is this, but the veriest mad
ness that ever raved in Bedlam know it is
said that there are two wings to the Democratic
party. / am aware of that, and | know, also,
that both wings belong to the same vulture,
and, although one has been slightly out of joint,
it has now got back to its place, and both will
flap in unison, to bear the carrion bird back to
gorge and fatten on the carcass where it has
gorged and fattened so long.
But the strangest and most impious phase OF
this fanatcism is, that it claims the sanction OF
the Bible for American Slavery. have neither
time nor disposition to enter into a pathological
argument on this question. | shall not ran
sack Greek lexicons and musty manuscri pts to
ascertain the precise genealogical force of the
Greek words translated SerrdRt in the Bible.
And as for the grand old Hebrew in which the
ancient Scriptures were written, it has no word
which describes or recognises a human being as
piece Of property. Before quoting chapter or
verse, desire to say few words having gen
eral bearing on this subject. The Theocratic
charter. granted to the Jews was exclusive, and
constituted them q kind of close corporation,
with peculiar privileges as commonwealth.
But all those unusual franchises were bestow-
ed upon them on the express condition that
they should comply with a prescribed ritual.
God explicitly declared that he would slay every
natiye-born Jew that did not comply with the
provisions of their charter, Now, ! desire to
inquire of those who claim the right to hold
slaves under this old charter given to the Jews,
Have you complied with the acquisitions of that
charter? Do you abstain from Virginia ham
and other swine's flesh? Do you observe the
new mocns, the sabbaths, circumcision, and
the appointed fessts7 If not you are no Jew,
and are not entitled to Tie franchises of jew
but Oh The other hand you belong TO the Cen
tile race, who, according to your theory, we're of
right made slaves. If the advocates of Slavery
choose to go back and place themselves under
a code of laws given to race of men evidently
vet in state of barbarism, let. them take the
whole code, ald abide by it, and obey it. An
other statement. If the Bible sanctions Sla-
very n all, it is the enslavement of whine men.
No one pFetendg that the servants spoken of in
the Bible were blacks. The Roman slave was
not black man. The HebFey seryant was
not black man. The question is, whether
the laboring man, white or black, may rightfully
be enslaved.
] may as well notice, here, that WORKOUT quo
tatlOn enormously placed on Ham. Noah plant
ed vineyard, raised some grapes, made sonic
wine, and got drunk. When be walked ~, still
fuddled with the fumes of the wine S0ttG UOce,
so confused he did not know his son from his
grandson, he uttered the maledicton. " cursed
be Canaan" not Ham, who had been guilty of
the wrong. And now, in the blaze of the nine
tebGth century, with the radiance Of Christianity
shining ss9gnd Democrats 90 housing back
FIVE thousand years 70 learn the basis of human
rights from the lips OF pan still half drunk.
g Cursed be Canaan" is eyeTmoae the refrain OF
Democratic minstrelsy.
And now to the Bible. will not detain the
Committee long, for l have no patience with the
impiety that attempts to throw the sanction OF
this holy book around the diaboical system OF
volume? eTbou shalt not stealth Brief, com
prehensive, and TO the point. This must be
taken from the Bible before it can be made
to sanction Slavery. Does this forbid my ia.
king my neighbours horse but allow me 10 re
duce the man to a slave, and then claim them
; both Hoy MUCH better is a man than sheep
If | am told that Slavery is not theft, because
the felonious lntsnt is not there, | reply, rs the
gentleman from Georgia replied, who has in
former years on this floor attempted to Justify
Slavery on the authority of the Scriptures. He
declared that the act of Paulding in arresting
the marauder, Walker, was ap act of robbery.
So4tf one replied, that it could not be robbery,
for there VS. no felonious intent. The gentle
man from Georgia .e;oined, " said robbery;
did not say legal robbery 81 : soy MeJt;
do not sag legal theft or theft in the legal sense.
We are talking a6Ggt the moral, not the legal,
character Of Slavery. The title to every slave
originated in violence and robbery, sad its con-
tinuance has no other moral character. There
can be ne mistake about the fightfnl ownership
of human being. He belongs to himself Be
cause my father mother was reduced to the
condition of o slave, does that Justify my being
| reduced to the same condition of brutism ?
Does the continuance Of wrong take away It's
guilt | repeat there can be no doubt as to
the ownership of any human being. The title
is in himself To take it from him is robbery.
But we have specific statute on this subject.
:" He that stealeth q man and selleth him, or il
he be found III his bands" that is AZ his posses
sion, he shall surely be put to DEATH This
enactment takes th,s transaction out of the cat
alogue of ordinary crime, aud brands it with
peculiar Reproduction. Other forms Of theft
could be atOned for by returning four-fold this
claimed the forfeiture of life itself, thus making
it capital Gaenee. No squirming of sophistry
can get round this. There it stands, the esti-
mate of the Jewish Scriptures Of the crime OF
traficking in human flesh. So once thought
the Presbyterian church, when they declared
slayeholding to be violation of the eighth com
mandment So thought President Edwards,
when he declared the STAKEHOLDER guilty of man
stealing every day. This was the constitutional
law of the Jewish Commonwealth. No other