The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1860-07-04

ciSlilzation secures. The painful injustice
this pretension IS lost in its meanness. 1t is rob
berry and petty larceny under the garb of Law
And even its meanness is lost in the absurdit
OF its associate prerension, that the African, thu
despoiled of all his earnings, is saved from pov
erty, and that for his own good he must worl
for his master, and not for himself Alas b,
+ such faacy, is a whole race pauperized! Ant
yet this transaction is not without illustrative ex
ample. solemn poet, whose verse has fount
VIDE favor, pictures creature who,
With one hand pu,
penny IN the urn OF poverty
And with the other took a shilling out.
loaocts - Course cf Tins,'' Book VII, 6S2.
And celebrated traveller through Russia, more
than a generation ago, describes kindred
spirit, who, while on his knees before an alta,
OF the Greek Church, devouiy told his beads
with one hand, and with the other deliberately
picked the pocket of a fellow.sinner BY his
side. Not admiring these instances, canno,
cease to deplore a system which has much OF
both, while, under an affectation of CHARITY il
sOrdidly takes from the slave all the fruits OF
his bitter sweat, and thus takes from him the
handspring to exertion. Tell me, sir, is not Sla.
very barbarous?
Such is Slavery in its FIVE special elements
| OF Barbarism, as recognised by law; first, as.
suming that man can hold property in man ;
secondly, abrogating the relation of husband
and wife; thirdly, abrogating the parental tie /;
fourthly, closing the gates of knowledge; and
fifthly, appropriating the unpaid labor of ano.
ther. Take away these elements sometimes
called "abuses," and Slavery will cease to ex.
ist, for it is these very "abuses" which consti.
tute Slavery. Take away any one of them, and
the abolition Of Slavery begins. And when l
present Slavery for judgment, mean no slight
evil, with regard to which there may be rea.
sonable difference of opinion, but l mean this
five.fOld embodiment of abuse"-this ghastly
qulncunx OF Barbarism each particular of
which, If considered separately, must be de.
nOunced at once with all the ardor of an hon.
est soul, while the whole five-fold combination
must awake fve-fOld denunciat0n.
But this fve.fold combination becomes still
more hateful when its single motipe is consid.
cred. The Senator from Mississippi [Mr. Davisl
says that it is "but form of civil government
for those who are not fit to govern themselves"
The Senator is mistaken. 1t is an outrage where
i've different pretensions all concur in one sin.
gle object, looking only to the profit of the mas
ter, and constituting its ever present motive
power, which is simply to compel the labor of
fellow men ,cithOus wages!
If the offence of Slavery were less extended;
if it were confined to some narrow region; if il
had less of grandeur in its proportions; if its
victims were counted by tens and hundreds, in.
stead Of millions, the five headed enormity
would find little indulgence. All would rise
against it, while religion and civilization would
lavish their choicest efforts in the general war
iare. But what is wrong when done to one man
cannot be right when done to many. If it is
wrong thus to degrade you, Mr.. President-it
cannot be right to degrade q whole race. And
yet this is denied by the barbarOus logic of Sla.
very, which taking advantage of its own wrong,
claims immunity because its Usurpation has as
sumed a front Of audacity that cannot be safely
attacked. Unhappiy, there is Barbarism else
where in the world; but American Slavery,
as defined by existing law, stands forth as the
greatest organized Barbarism on which the sun
now shines. IL is without single peer. Its
author, after making it, broke the die.
If curiosity carries US to the origin of this
law-and here 1 approach a topic often con.
sidered in this Chamber-we shall confess
again its Barbarism. 1t is not derived from
the common law, that fountain of Liberty; for
this law, while unhappily recognizing system
OF servitude, known as villeinage, secured to the
bOndman privileges unknown to the American
slave; protected his person against mayhem
protected his wife against rape; gave to his
marriage equal validity with the marriage of his
master, and surrounded his offspring with gener.
GUS presumptious of Freedom, unlike that rule
OF yours by which the servitlde of the mother
is necessarily stamped upon the child 1t is not
derived from the Roman law, that fountain of
tyranny, for two reasOns-frst, because this
law, in its better days, when its early rigors were
spent-like the common law i.self-eecured to
the bondmaa privileges unknown to the Ameri-
can slave-in certain cases of cruelty rescued
him from his master-prevented the separation
of parents and children, also of brothers and sis
ters-and even protected him in the marriage
relation; and secondly, because the Thirteen
Colonies were not derived from any of those
countries which recognized the Roman law,
while this law even before the discovery of this
continent had lost all living efficacy. 1t is not
derived from the Mahomedan law for under the
mild injunctions of the Koran, benignant ser.
vitude, unlike yours, has revailed-where the
lash is not allowed to lscerate the back of a fe.
male; where no knife or branding iron is EN-.
ployed upon any human being to mark him az
the property of his fellow.man; where the mas.
ter is expressly enjoned to listen to the desires
OF his slave for emancipation; and where the
blood OF the master, mingling with his bond
woman, takes from her the transferable charac.
ter of chattel, and confers complete freedom
upon their offspring. 1t is not derived from the
Spanish law; for this law contains humane ele.
ments, unknown to your system, borrowed, per.
haps, from the Mahomedan Moors who so long
occupied Spain; and, besides, our Thirteen Col.
onies had no umbilical connection with Spain.
Nor is it derived from English statutes or Amer
ican statutes; for We have the positive and re.
peated averment Of the Senator from Virginia
Mr.. Mason and also of the other Senators that
in not single State of the Union can any such
statutes establishing Slavery be found. From
none of these does it come.
No, sir; not from any land of civilization is
this Barbarism derived. 1t comes from Africa;
ancient nurse of monsters; from Guinea, Daho-
mey, and Congo. There is its origin and foun-
tain. This benighted region, We are told by
Chief Justice Marshall in memorable judgment,
(7ze Antelope, 10 Wheaton R., co., still asserts
a right, discarded by Christendom, to enslaye
captives taken in war; and this African Bsrbar-
ism is the beginning of American Slavery. And
the Supreme Court of Georgia, a Slave State,
has not shrunk from this conclusion. Licensed
to hold slave property" says the Court, "the
Georgia planter held the slave as q chattel;
either directly from the slave-trade, or from
those who held under him, and he from the
slave-captor in Africa The properly Of the
planter in the slave became, thus the property
Of the original captor." Neal v. Farmer, 9
Georgia Reports, p. 555. 1t is natural that
right, thus derived in defiance of Christendom,
and openly founded on the most vulgar Pagan.
ism, should be exercised without any mitigating
influence from Christianity; that the masters
authority over the person of bis slave-over his
conjugal reiations-Over his parental relations
over the employment of his time-over all
ia enn b.ar M