, 1860-06-08

il from its degradation, not by the bludgeon aud
the chain-not by tie barborous pretenson OF
ownershsp-but BY generous charity, which
snail be measured preeisel5 by the extent Of its
tnfsE1o1Ity.
THE 1AM AND CANAAN ARorxEy1.
Tbs second argument put forward for this
pfstenslon, and twice repeated by The Senator
from alisstssfppi, is that the Africans are the
poa'erity Of Ham, the sou Of Soah. throueb
Canaan. who who WAS cursed by No,h' to Re-
the "serTant that IL the word emnlo,ed-of
bis brethren, and that this malediction Ina foil.
en- upon Ill bis descendants, who are accordinz.
oe!o1ea oy Goa TO perpetual bondage, not
oniy IN Tue ahsrd and fourth gener atoms, but
tSe .SaoSsnoas gu succeeding time. Surely, when
claim Of slave masters. be did not intend . lest,
aad er It IS hard to suppose him Ia earnest,
Ihe Senator is Chairman ct the Committee on
Military Affairs. in which he il doubtless e1pe-
r'euced; H- may, perhaps, set squadron in
tae ne!d, oos ne has evidently considered
l!ea' tho Senator assumes that it has Il red the
doom OF the co1ored race, leaving untouched tie
white race. Perhaps be does not know that ii
the worst days of the Polish aristocracy this
same argument was adopted as the excuse for
noIo,ng "h'te sef1s IN bondage, precisely as i
"0tA - bu6 HEQUtpFs HUI tuh4
crcn to this day the angry Polish noble address
rs bis white peasant as the "son of Ham"
1t hardly comports with the gravity Of this
debate to dwell on such an argument, and yet
cannot 60 wrong If, fer the sake Of much in
lored race, ! brush il away. To jastify the
he must maintain at least 6ve different proposi.
tlons, Is essential links in the chain OF the At:
ric- American slave: frst that by this male die:
t1on, Canaan himself was actually changed into
'chastei." whereas he is simply made the
servant OF his brethren; secondly, TINT not
mosest genes a:ion, was 80 changed, whereas the
language has no such extent; thirdly, that the
Afrsc.AIeticln actually beIou:s to The poster
ity Of CanaaA-an ethnolo >icM assumption ab-
su1dly d,hicu't to establish; fourshiv, that
each Of the descendants Of Shem aud Japheth
man as 4 "cbattel" "a proposition which finds
no semolance Of support; and filthy, that
every slaven1aster is truly descended from
Shsm or Japheih-a pedigree which no anxiety
can establish!
COMPARISON oE ANCIENT AND AopERx SLAVERY.
II curiosity carries US to tbs origin Of this
la*-and here | approach topic often cou.
sldeTed In this ehamber-"e shnli confess spaiu
its barbarisn. 1t is not deri1e from the cou,.
mon 4aw, that fountain Of liberty for this laT.
sh'f: uahapp1ly recognizing a system Of SER
rltude, known es Tllienaye, secured to the bond.
man privileges unknown to the American slave.
protected his person agaiust mayhem protect.
I'd his vile against rape; gave to his marriage
equal validity with the 1narrisre of lis mas1sr
aud surrounds hi4 Offspring With generous nrs'
sumptions Of freedom, unlike that rule Of yours
By WHICH tue sesvitude Of the mother is neces.
sri stamptd upon the child. Il is not de-
rived from the Roman law. that fountain Of
tyranny, for two reasons first, because this
law, In us nstfer days, when ITS early rigors
cured 10 the bondman privileges unLuoyn to
the American slave-;n curtain cases of cruelty
Rescued htm from his 1naster-prevcnted the
separation Of parents and children. a'so If
brothers aad ststers-and even Projected him
n the marriage relat on; and secondly, becau.e
Tue th.r'een colonies were lot derived from
any Of those Countries which recognized the
Roman law while this law. eren before
the discovery Of this continent had lost
all living efficacy. 1t is not derived frum
the Mahommt dan law: Tor under The
mild ii juactinus OF The Koran, beuiguaut
sstv::ude, unlike yours, has egailed-whe1e
tue lash is not allowed to lacerase the back of a
female; whsre no kuise or branding iron is en-
rioyed upon any human being to mark him rs
the property of his f.llow mau: where the
master il expressly epj lined 10 li.teu to the de
sres Of bis tlsve for emancipation; and where
the blood Of the master, u1lngsipS with his bond
woman, tates frrm her the transferable CHAR
s-~$-@ ~
dom upon their offspring. 1t is not derived
ffora the Spanish law !; for this Inv contains
humane elemen ., unkuowa to your ST satem
borrowed. perhaps from shesfahommedan Moors
who so lung occupied Spain; and. besiues, our
thirteen culouies had no uu1bilical connectinn
with Spain Nor is it derived from Enclish
statutes or American statutes; for we have ,he
positive and repeated ave1msnt of the Senator
from Virginia tMr. Mason) oad also of other
Senators that in not Il single State Of the Union
can any such sta'utes authuriz ny slavery te
fourd. From none of these dies it COME
ORIGIN OF Tue AMERICAN SLAVE sTsrEu,
No, sir, not from uoy aud ot civilization is
tbs baro4rism derived. IL canass .frona A.
ric1; ancieat nurte af s7ohsffrs; Jrtm Gaina<,
D'Aomey and Gonqo; tA<re is isvsigia and foun-
tain. This hen=s,sd region. ne are tuld by
Chief Justice Marshall, ID i memorable iude-
ment (1ie Antelope, 10 Wheaton r., 6G}, still
asserts Il right, discarded by Chri.tepdou, to
enslave capsayes taken in war; and this African
barba ism IS the beginning Of Amer can slavery:
and the Supreme Court Of Georgia-a slave
Ssate-has not shruuk from this conclusion.
"Lice1kcd to hold alaEe property" says the
Court, "the Georgia planter held the slaye as a
chatte', either directly from The n!aye trader or
fran these who held uns:er him, and be from
the slave elptor in Affic'. fhs ropersy inthe
the original captor-" (Neal vs Farmer, Geor.
gia Reports, psge 555 1t is naturalthata right
thus deriveoin fiance Of Chr,sendom should be
exercised Without any mitigating influence from
Christianity that the masters authority over
the person Of his slave, over his coriugal reia
ployu mt Of his time, over aI his acauisiii ns,
should be recognized, Thile no gen
erous presumption ,nclines to freedom.
and the womb Of the bond women can
deliver only Stare. From its home in
4Airlca, wbefe it is sustained BY immemorisl
h h .%fEn f4.ra Il -.
developed, trayrssed the ocean to American
so.f It entered on board that fatal slave ship
s'huilt IN the erlipse aud rigged with curses
dark" which in loco landed its cruel cargo Mt
jamestown ID Virginia aud it has boldly taken
its place in cvtry aucceedi1g slave ship from
mani freight, regardless OF human agony; sur
riv.ug the tertntAss Of tbs middle p,,ssa2e; sur
wiring its countless victims plunged beneath the
waves; oao it has left the slave ship only to
travel iussparabfa frcm the slave in It's various
doom, ,sanctt us bY its bafAarous code every out
rIge, ,Thether 0: mayhem, or robbery, Of tash OF
lust, and fastening itself upon his offspring
to the remotes1 generation. Thus are the bar
baTous prerogatlvss OF barbaEons African chiefs
psrpetuated i'll American slave masters, while
the Senator from Virginia, {Mr. Mason) per-
baps unconscious Of ttleir orig,n-peIhaps de-.
sirous TO secure for them tie appearance OF u
lcsS bartarous redi3ree-tricks them out With
phrase OF the Roman law, discarded by thc
common law, pstr:Es seY"i:tr rsA&tt7s, which
kiupl, r-IGtrs 1ntu a!,cssut Latin an existing
rule Of African harburism, recognized as att
eaistins rule Of American slavery. Such IL
the plain juridi;al otlgin If the American
slave cnde, which is EOS ran1;sd as 4 bsdge Of
civilization. but Ill iaw, wi,a'tver may be it's
jurid'cal origin, whether English or sIahome-
d4u, Roman or African, may b- traced to other
aud amper iuautn noes in nature, sometimes of
right and sometimes Of wrong. Surely the
Law which blasted the slave trade Us pirac5 ,pur-
ishable with death, h2d different inspiration
from that other law. which secured immunity
for the slave trade throughout I'LL immense ter
ritory, and invested Its supporters with po1iti-
cal poTer. AS there is higher lax abore, 80
there is lower Law below, and each is felt in
human affairs.
THE rRETESs1OS WITHOUT FOCSpATIoS.
It is natural that senators who pretend that.
by the laws OF nature. ruan may hold property
in man, should ind this preteusion in The Con-
stitution. But the prctenaon is much without
foundation in the Constitution as it is without
foundation in nature. It is not too much to
say that there is not Que sentence, phrase or
word-not single suggestion, hint or equ,vo.
cation, evcn--ont OF Which any such pretensioa
can be implied; while great national acts. and
important con1e u,porRneous declarations in this
Convention which framed the Constitution, in
different forms Of language, and also controlling
rules of interuretaifcD FENDER this nratpnS