The Jeffersonian Democrat. [volume] (Chardon, Ohio) 1854-1865, 1860-06-29
VOLUME XI. NO. 26.

the land of Egypt.
pa. Ye shalt not nfflict any widow or
fatherless child.
"23. II thou afflict them in any wise, and
they cry Rt all unto me, will surely hear
their cry.
"24. And my wrath shall wax hot, and I
will kill you with tho sword and your wyes
sha!l DO widows, and your children father
less. Ibid, chap. 90.
~. Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger;
for ye know the heart of stranger, seeing
ye were strangers in the land of Egypt
Ibid, chap. 23.
40. And thou shalt not CLEAN thy vino.
yard, neither shalt thou gather every grape
of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for
the poor aud the stranger; am the Lord
thy God"
"13: Thou shalt not defraud thy neigh
Dor, neither rob him tho. wages of him that
Is hired shall not abide with thee all night
until the morning"
"l7. Thou shalt not hate thy brother In
thine heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke
thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him.
"l9. Thou shalt loyo thy noighbor as
thyself." chap. 10.
Some peopIe-some even who ostoem
themselves very good Christians-seem to
think that, by the Scriptures, VIC are under
obligations to treat our own countrymOn,
our own race or stock, with very different
measure of justice from that due from US to
the black, thick.lipped, aud repulsive Afri-
can. So different is this measure, that
towards our own race we recognize tho oh.
legation of tho golden rule" while wo
press to the lips of tho African the bittor
cup of perennial and remorseless bondage |
Nay, even "men of God give Scripture for
the deed" These refer US to such passages
of tho Mosaic law as l have cited before,
md search the Scriptures" no further, as
If thoy feared that, in tho search, they might
find an antidoto for their envenomed nos
trums. But If VIC read that law and inter-
pret il by tho rules prescribed for the in
depreciation of any woll l.intentiouud code or
system of municipal laws-for instance, that
golden rule of tho common law, "that overy
intendment shall bn made in favor of life
and liberty"-All pretense that it upholds
the system of African slavery as it exists in
modern slaveholding States vanishes like
ghosts beforo the rising sun. In tho light
of this rule let us read tho following passa
ges from tho Lovitical law, and SEQ what
strength tho system of slavery can draw
from thence:
"33. And If a stranger sojourn with thee
In your land, 20 shall not vex or margin]
oppress him.
'34. But the stranger that dwelleth with
you shall be unto you as one born amongst
you, and thou SHALT LOVE HIM as thyself
for 20 wore strangers in tho land of Egypt
] am the Lord your God. ."-Leviticus chap.
10.
"22. Ye shall have one manner of law, as
well for tho stranger as for ono of your own
country for am the Lord your God. -
Ibid. chap. a.
"22. Mother shalt thou gather any CLEAN.
ing of thy harvest; thoushalt leave them
unto the poor, and to the stranger: l am
the Lord your God."-IJid. chap. 23.
40, And ye shall hallow tho dfticth year,
and proclaim liberty throughout all tho
land unto all tho inhabitants thereof. Ibid.
chap. %.
"l5. One ordinance shall bo both for you
OF the congregation, and also for the
stranger that sojourneth with you. an ordi
nance forever in your generation as ye are,
30 shall the stranger be before the Lord.
"16. Ons law and one manner shall be
for you, and for tho stranger that sojourn.
eth with you."-!Vambers chap. Is.
For the Lord your God is God of gods
and Lord oe lords. great God, a mighty,
and terriblo, which regardeth not persons,
nor taketh reward - Deuteronomy, chap o.
No, sir no WHIrE HOUSE patronage
wherewith to bribe the Eternal
l8. He doth execute the judgment OF
the fatherless and widow, and lovelh the
stranger, in giving him food and raiment
I9. Love ye therefore the stranger :
Tor ye were strangers in the land OF
Egypt" deuteronomy.
at. Thou shalt not pervert the judg.
ment Of the stranger, nor Of the fatberless
nor take the widows raiment TO pledge
"But thou shalt remember that thou
vast bondman in Egypt, and the Lord
thy God redeemed thee thence therefore
! command thee to do this thing. Ibid,
chap. "a.
"l5 Thou shalt not deliver unto his
master the servant which is escaped from
his master unto thee:
"l6. lie shall dwell with thee, even
among you, in that place which he shall
choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh
him best: thou shalt not oppress him. -
Ibid. chap. 20.
Alas Mr.. Chairman. had the patri
archs Of Virginia read these Divine com.
mands, and imbbed their sublime spirit
when that robber and murderer, Sir John
Hawkins, in 1920, first landed his cargo
ofkidnapped Africans on her shores, wha,
might not have been the fruits Of such &c.
voton to the letter OF the Levitical law, so
beautifully illustrating the spirit Of the
Gospel of the Son Of God ? But the deed
was done and. like the sin of our first
parents in the garden OF Eden, it has
showered upon our country abundant evils
in the past, and shadows the future with
others fatal 20 her prosperity and true
glory, il mol TO her existence, as the abode
of national liberty. But slavery perhaps,
may not be so bad, Notwithstanding the
vehement Scripture denunciations before
cited and others still more emphatic to be
cited hereafter. Southern statesmen on
this floor tell us that neither in theory or
practice is the institution of domestic
slavery that vile and wicked thing which
we Northern "lanatics" and Black Re.
publican agitators" represent it. This
may be SO. and it may be that my Scrip
ture artillery 10 pointed at the mere CHI
mera of a dstempered fancy. Let us see.
II cite the testimony Of shareholders for
the nature and character OF the institution,
] shall be excused, at least, if not justified,
IN uialdinO aaeapl N Tho varity ~ N III