Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1860-06-30

I
and civilization secures. The painful injus
tice Of this pretension is lost in its meanness
II is robbery and petty larceny under the
garb Of law. And even its meanness is lost
in the absurdity Of its associate pretension
that the African, thus despoiled Of all hi:
earnings, is saved from poverty, and that fol
his own good he must work for his MASTER
and not for himself Alas by such a tall
lacy is a whole race pauperized! And YET
this transaction is not without illustrative
example A solemn poet whose verse has
found wide favor, pictures creature who
With one hand put
| A penny In the urn Of poverty
] And WITH the other took a shilling out
] Paiioks " C9tTsegf Tine % BOas l,lIi, 632
And celebrated tnveler through Russia,
more then a generation ago, describes a kind
red spirit, who while on his knees before
an altar Of the Greek Church, deyoutly
told his beads with one hand, and with
the other deliberately picked the pocket
Of fellow sinner by his side. Not admiring
these instances, | cannot cease to deplore q
system which has much Of both, while, under
an atfectation OF charity, it sordidly takes
from the slave all the fruits Of his bitter
| sWeut and thus takes from him the main
spring to exertion. Tell me, sir, is not Sla-
very barbarous?
Such is Slavery in its five special elements
Of Barbarism, as recognized by law first
assuming that man can hold property in
man; secondly, abrogating the relation Of
husband and wife; thirdly, abrogating the
parental tiei fourthly, closing the gates Of
knowledge; and filthy, appropriating the un-
paid labor of another. Take away these
/ elements, sometimes called ''abuses,n and
Slavery will cease 10 exist, for it is these
very ''abuses, which constitute Slavery
Take away any one Of them, and the aboli-
ton Of Slavery begins. And when | pre-
sent Slavery for judgment, mean no slight
evil, with regard to which there NAV be
a reasonable difference of opinion, but mean
this dVe-tOld embodiment Of i'abuse' this
ghasily quincunx of Barbarism-each partic-
ular Of which, if considered separately, must
be denounced at once with 1.-THE ardor of an
honest soul, while the whole ive-fold combi-
nation must awake fve-fold denunciation.
But this ive-fold combination becomes still
more hateful when its single nlotiUs is consid.
cred. The Senator from Mississippi (Mr.
Davis) says that it is ''but form of civil
government for those who are not fit to
EAhSAAA eAANA+AalAHN 4AlG DGl0lOI Is nllSLd-
ken. It is an outrage where five different
pretentiOns all concur in one single object,
looking only to the profit of the master, and
constituting its ever-present motive power,
which is simply TO compel the labor Of .telloav-
men a0ithOut Ipages
If the offence Of Slavery were less extend
ed; if it were confined to some narrow re-
giOn; if il had less Of grandeur in its pro-
portions; if its victims were counted by tens
and hundreds, instead Of millions. the Eve
headed enOrmity would find little indulgence.
All would rise against it, while religion and
civilization would lavish their choicest efforts
in the general warfare But what is wrong
when done to-or1e man cannot B0
done to many. If il is wrong thus to de-
grade single soul-if it is wrong thus to
degrade you, Mr. President-it cannot be
right to degrade whole race And vet this
is denied by the barbarous logic Of Slavery,
which, taking advantage Of its own wrong,
claims immunity because its Usurpation has
assumed a front of audacity that cannot be
safely attacked. Unhappily there is Barba-
rism everywhere in the world; but Ameri-
can Slavery, as defined by existing law
stands forth as the greatest organized Barba-
rism on which the sun now shines Il is
without single peer. Its author, after ma
king it, broke the die.
II curiosity carries us to the origin of this
law-and here approach a topic often con-
sidered in this Chamber-We shall confess
again its Barbarism It is not derived from
the common law, that fountain of Liberty
for this law, while unhappily recognizing a
system Of servitude, known as yilleinage,
secured to the bondman privileges unknown
to the American slave; protected his person
against mayhem protected his wife against
rape; gave to bis marriage equal validity
with the marriage Of his master, and sur
rounded his offspring with generous presump-
tons Of Freedom, unlike that rule of yours
by which the servitude Of the mother is ne
cessarily 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
Tigors were spent, ike the common law it.
self, secured to the bondman privileges un-
known TO the American slave-in certain
cases of cruelty rescued him from his master
prevented the separation Of parents and
children, also Of brothers and sisters-and
even protected him in the marriage relation
and secondly, because the Thirteen Colonies
were not derived from any ofthose countries
which recognized the Roman law, while this
law even before the discovery Of this conti-
nent had lost all living efficacy.
It is net derived from the Mahomedan law;
for under the mild injunetions Of the Koran,
a benignant serYitude, unlike yours, has pre-
vailed-Where the lash is not allowed to
lacerate the back Of female where no
knife or branding-iron is employed upon any
human being to mark him as the property of
his fellow-man; where the master is express
" enjoined 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 character of
a chattel, and confers complete freedom up
on their offspring. II is not derived from
the Spanish law, for the law contains humane
elements, unknown to your system, borrow
ed, perhaps, from the MahOmedan MOors who
50 long occupied Spain; and, besides, our
Thirteenf COLONIES had no ubimlical connec-
ton with Spain. Morris it derived from Eng
lish statutes or American statutes; for we
have the positive and repeated averment of
the Senator from Virginia, Blr. Mason, and
also Of other Senators that in not a single
State Of the Union can any such Statutes
e+-AA--eA---AA6 A'AaAt-Ay Ag ADAuus FROM none
Of these does it come.
No, sir; not from any land of civilization.
is this Barbarism derived. It comes from
Africa; ancient nurse of monsters; from
Guinea, Dahomey, and Congo. There is
its origin and fountain. This benighted re-
gion, we are told by Chief Justice Marshall
in a memorable Judgment (Tie antelope.
10 Wheaton R., 66;) still asserts a right
discarded by Christendom, to enslave captives
taken in war; and this African Barbarisn1 is
the beginning Of American Slavery. And
the supreme Court Of Georgia, Slave State.
has not shrunk from this conclusion. ali
censed TO hold slave property" says the
Court; "the Georgian planter held the slave
as a,chattel, either directly from the slave ira
der, OF from those who held under him. land he
from the slave captOr in Africa. Theproper-
ty of the slave in the planter, became Tins
just the property Of the original cantor /
Neal Vs. Farru, 9 Georgia Reports b55l |
u = 4 Al Il -