The Portland daily press., 1869-05-14
Not Quite an Anachreui.,n.

Not Quite an Anachrenism.
The old anti-slavery war-horses-we use the
term respectfully having in mind the scrip
ture war-horse whose neck is clothed with
thunder and is in every respect magnificent
animal-at the annual meeting of the Ameri-
can Anti Slavery Society in New York on
Tuesday the 11thinst, rather apologized for be-
ing alive as society. Some of the members
hardly saw anything left of the regular work
of the society to do, aud S. S. Foster proposed
that while retaining the old name, for the sake
of its prestige, its efforts should be directed to
giving every man, white, black or Chinese,
farm of his own, while some OF the woman
speakers were of the opinion that the organl-
zation might be made useful III propagatlng
the woman suffrage doctrine. The old cause
was further shown to be IN e1tremis by the ne
cessity of prasing the administration in the
resolutions. and commencing both the Presi-
dent and Congress for getting the 18th Consti-
tutional amendment before the people. These
resolutions were presented by Wendell Phil
lips himself who, as all remember, made the
most bitter and seemingly unjust attacks up
on Gen. Grant in his lectures last winter
thing, having to content himself with feeble
grumbe at the want of adequate protection to
the blacks in some parts of the South, the re-
fusal of whites to recognize the blacks as their
equals socially and the proposal to take away
from the District of Columbia the right of To-
cal self-government. In the course of his re-
marks he also found an opportunity for one of
his stinging aphosisms, when he said that the
church is ga fulI-mooned reflection of fashion
and the government"
The presence in the convention of Frederick
Douglass, whose son has not been permitted
to work in the government printing Office by
the Jealous printers of that city, and of Mr.
Simms of Georgia, who was expelled from the
Legislature of that State solely on account of
his black skin, proved that the Society has
good ground for claiming that it ought not to
be expected to call in the undertaken quite
yet Mr.. Douglass reviewed the work al
ready done by the Society and indicated that
remaining to be done with an eloquence that
might be expected from him when speaking
on such theme. We quote the Introductory
part of his address:
1t has been long time since / have had the
honor of appearing among the regular speak
ers of the American Anti-Slavery Society on
an anniversary occasion like the present So
long has it been, and SO vast and wonderful
have been the changes that have taken place
since then, that almost hesitate to attempt to
speak at all, although appreciate very highly
the sentiments to which hope my invitation
to be present on this occasion is due. The ar
guments which 1 use could be used with some
skill and effect against the idea that occasions
like this are no longer appropriate, no longer
pertinent. Where are the arguments by which
we were once moved-the poiti cal arguments,
the moral arguments, and the religious a-gu-
ments? Where are the cunning, the subtle
arguments framed by our Doctors of Divinity
in defense of Slavery, affirming it to be divine
institution, against which the gates of hell
could not prevail? They are all gone. How
can / speak on the platform of the American
Anti -Slavery Society when all our opponents
are in full retreat, scarcely taking time to look
for new positions? Where is Slavery? 1t is
gone-gone, we trust, forever. Its cloud-cap-
ped towers and gorgeous palaces stained with
blood are dissolved, and if we have any voca-
ton, any mission here, it is to see that not
wreck is lett behind, that not one concomitant
element of the slave system shall remain to
obstruct the pathway OF human progress in
the future. Some people say Slavery died
some time ago, and that the Anti ti-Slavery So
ciety ought to have died with it. The logic
would be perfect if the premises were correct.
Had Slavery died an honest death, the Anti
Slavery Society might have died with it; but
slavery is not honestly dead, it did not die an
honest death, and its death was the acqusi
ton of moral conviction instead of the recog-
milton of necessity. Had it come in obedience
to the enlightenment of the American people,
had it come at the call of humanity, by the
morality and enlightenment of the STAKEHOLDER
as well as the rest of our tell0w-citizens, slav-
cry might be looked upon as dead. But there
IS no such thing as conditional abolition of
slavery. In the nature of the case there can
be no such thing as an intermediate condition
of the abolition of slavery in the world. 1t s
not sufficient to say that slavery is abolished,
but it must go further and abolish that power
from which slavery springs, that by which it
was sustained. The selfshness, the arrogance
of the master still remain; the ignorance and
cruely of the SLAVE still remain. 1t is not COR
rect to assume that slavery is entirely out OF
the field. The American anti-slave1y society,
however, is o1ly an instrumentality, an agent.
Its dignity and its value consist in its eficien-
cy. fit is efficient, that is reason for its ex-
iStence, apd when it 10 be efficient let it
perish. 1t has had glorious history for 36
years. 1t has been constructing magnificent
arch or bridge over which four millions of per-
sons have passed into liberty. The archway
was built, it was beautiful to behold, and only
one thing remained for its completion, which
was to il sert the keystone of the arch, and
that keystone is the Fifteenth Amendment.
Until this becomes part of the United States
tinues; but until this comes to pass, l shall
consider whether it is best to dispense with the
society.
In the course of his discursive remarks Mr.
Phillips touched once more upon his ideas of
proper foreign policy with his usual boldness
and vigor. He said:
In Cuba to-day, as in the slave States for
merly, there was no govern ment. Nothing
that denied the natural rights of man could be
called a government. Whenever they were
infrnged it was our right and our duty to in
terfere. When We got a black man in the
place of Secretary of State Fish (of cold
blooded-race was the Fish) we would have
minister sent to the Court of st. James with
different instructions than those given to Mr..
Motley; we would have different relations
with Spain than now; we would stretch our
long arms around the globe and clasp them on
the other side, and they would be so magnet
ic that the oppressed everywhere would cling