There is nothing but the most enlarged view of a great question, that can fairly determine its merits; and it cannot be denied, that slavery is one of the great questions appertaining to the social state of mankind, and to the political state of the world. It is so great, in our opinion, that it can neither be disposed of by the logic of visionary theorists, nor by a coup du main of an ill-considered and intemperate effort, nor by any legerdemain of political quackery. Ever since human society was set up, so far as history deposes, slavery has been a component element in one form or another. We suppose, there are some good reasons for saying, that there is no institution—we beg pardon of the Abolitionists for using this term, and assure them that we mean nothing by it but the fact—none, that can assert a more ancient date, except that of matrimony, and the natural relations accruing therefrom; and none that has been more uninterrupted, since it was first set up. Reason might teach us, therefore, that a custom thus sanctioned by time and the history of human society, so deeply rooted, so thoroughly interwoven, and incorporated with the social fabric of large portions of the human family, however wrong it may be, so long as there is not a uniform opinion on the subject among those who have the charge of it, cannot be eradicated and put out of the way by a single blow.
We are aware, that the Abolitionists have published some very strong and significant doctrines, intended to be applied to the evils of the social system. For example in their last Annual Report:—“The very vitality of human society for these six thousand years, has consisted in the victories of certain institutions over others—of the new over the old—of the better over the worse—just as the heart, by successive tides of regenerated blood, chases corruption and death from the bodily system. Tyranny in all ages, has striven to carry this moral (political) non-intercourse (non-interference) law into practice, but never with success. Had it succeeded, where would have been our Christianity and its successive reformations?” &c. Who would not say, “Good Lord deliver us” from the operation of a principle, thus boldly avowed, which asserts the right and necessity of everlasting revolution! and which plants itself on the platform, that might is right! Christianity itself is not protected from its invading sweep: “its successive reformations!” Where is the man in history, or living, that can lay claim to have reformed, or now to reform, Christianity? The very suggestion is blasphemous. And yet, it would seem, an act of this kind is even now, and among us, proposed to be enacted, because, forsooth, Christianity, after all “its reformations” and improvements, is not quite bold enough, is rather doubtful, and has even thrown out some suggestions a little adverse to the necessities of present exigencies!
But to return: Abolition simply, and in itself considered, is not the only question to be discussed, as the whole matter now presents itself to the mind of the public, and claims consideration. The phasis of the subject comprehends the broad disk of society. The Abolitionists have forced their opponents to this wide view, by having set the example. They have brought up so many questions, and implicated so many principles, as to have set aside the main question; at least have thrown it into the back ground, so that the term Abolition no longer suggests alone the primitive idea of emancipation, nor hardly suggests it at all; but arrays before the mind a system of principles, social and political, which are regarded by most people as of a very revolting character. It is impossible to meet such a foe without taking into consideration the ground which he occupies, without reconnoitring and surveying his position. He has already betrayed the poor slave, vitiated his cause, rivetted his chains, made all his prospects more hopeless, put far off the day of his emancipation, and at last run foul of a precipitous, frowning, and immoveable rock, that is likely to sit long in dignified composure on the base of the eternal hills, while the assailant exhausts his energies and breaks his sides by dashing against the rude and projecting points below.
The opponents of Abolition principles, therefore, are treated very unfairly when they are of course set down as opposed to emancipation. This latter question cannot now be taken up, till the battle is concluded in defence of other and more momentous principles, for the subversion of which a disciplined army of Destructives has rushed into the field. Nevertheless, so long as the Abolitionists continue to hold up the slave—whose prospects they have ruined, till he gets better help—as a shield for the accomplishment of other ends, it still remains necessary to give reasons why emancipation cannot be brought about with that precipitate haste which the Abolitionists propose.
We design, however, in this chapter, not to aim directly at the point above suggested, but to present somewhat of the comparative condition of the slaves in the United States, principally in relation to the history of the African race, since, at the time, and previous to the time, when the slave trade commenced, with the purpose of coming fairly to the conclusion, whether their condition in this country is an improvement or deterioration; and consequently, whether, in the Providence of God, and in their social right, as a distinct and separate race, they have a fair claim to the instant elevation among the people of this country, which the Abolitionists demand for them, if it can be obtained only at the expense of social order, and at the peril of our institutions.
First, we observe, that the African race, in the Middle, Western, and more Southern parts of the Continent, have for many centuries, or from time immemorial, been most barbarous and degraded, and in the practice of domestic slavery on the largest scale and in the most inhuman forms, entirely independent of the effects of the slave traffic by exportation from Africa to America.
“It is evident,” says Mungo Park, “that the system of slavery which prevails in Africa is of no modern date. It probably had its origin in the remote ages of antiquity, before the Mohammedans explored a path across the desert. How far it is maintained and supported by the slave traffic, which for two hundred years the nations of Europe have carried on with the natives of the Coast, it is neither within my province, nor in my power to explain. If my sentiments should be desired concerning the effect of a discontinuance of this commerce on the manners of the natives, I should have no hesitation in saying, that in the present unenlightened state of their minds, my opinion is, the effect would neither be so extensive nor so beneficial as many wise and worthy persons fondly expect.”
Park estimates the domestic slavery of Africa, on an average, at three fourths, and Lander at four fifths, of the population. Some travellers have gone much higher, and we have seen it put down at nine tenths.
“In a speech delivered in the British House of Commons, by Mr. Henniker, in 1789, the speaker asserts, that a letter had been received by George III. from one of the most powerful of the African potentates, the Emperor of Dehomey, which exemplifies the notions of the Africans about the right to kill and enslave prisoners of war. He (the Emperor) stated: ‘That as he understood King George was the greatest of white kings, so he thought himself the greatest of black ones.’ He said, that he could lead 500,000 armed men into the field, that being the pursuit to which all his subjects were bred, the women only staying at home to plant and manure the earth. He had himself fought two hundred and nine battles, with great reputation and success, and had conquered the great king of Ardah. The king’s head was to this day preserved with the flesh and hair; the heads of his generals were distinguished by being placed on each side of the doors of their Fetiches; with the heads of the inferior officers they paved the space before the doors; and the heads of the common soldiers formed a sort of fringe or outwork round the walls of the palace. Since this war he had experienced the greatest good fortune; and he hoped in good time to be able to complete the outwalls of all his great houses, to the number of seven, in the same manner.
“Mr. Norris, who visited this Empire, testifies to the truth of this letter. He found the palace of the Emperor an immense assemblage of cane and mud tents, enclosed by a high wall. The skulls and jaw bones of enemies slain in battle, formed the favorite ornaments of the palaces and temples. The king’s apartments were paved, and the walls and roofs stuck over, with these horrid trophies. And if a farther supply appeared at any time desirable, he announced to his general, that his house wanted thatch, when a war for that purpose was immediately undertaken.”[10]
[10] Professor Dew’s Review &c.
“All these unfortunate beings,” prisoners of war, says Park, “are considered as strangers and foreigners, who have no right to the protection of the law, and may be treated with severity, or sold to a stranger, according to the pleasure of their owners. There are indeed, regular markets, where slaves of this description are bought and sold; and the value of a slave in the eye of an African purchaser increases in proportion to the distance from his native kingdom; for, when slaves are only a few days journey from the place of their nativity, they frequently effect their escape; but when one or more kingdoms intervene, escape being more difficult, they are more readily reconciled to their situation. On this account the unhappy slave is often transferred from one dealer to another, until he has lost all hope of returning to his native kingdom.
“A battle is fought; the vanquished never think of rallying again; the inhabitants become panic-struck; and the conquerors have only to bind the slaves, and carry off the victims and their plunder. Such of their prisoners as through age or infirmity are unable to endure fatigue, or are found unfit for sale, are considered useless, and I have no doubt are put to death. The same fate commonly awaits chiefs, or any other persons who have taken a distinguished part in the war.”
The Rev. Stephen Kay, Corresponding member of the South African Institution &c., gives a most heart rending account of the horrid barbarities of war; of the great extent and atrocities of slavery; of the extreme degradation and hardships of females, who are always regarded and treated as slaves, and no longer valued when they become useless; of modes of torture and killing too shocking to be narrated; all of which, and many other atrocities of African barbarism, are the common scenes of those regions of Africa which he visited. Major Laing is to the same point, and various other travellers that have found motives to visit Africa, or to penetrate into its interior. There is no diversity of testimony on the subject, but one common voice going out upon the world, through a variety of channels, running back for ages, and from numerous and remote sections of that dark and cruel Continent, all certifying to their extreme barbarism and brutal degredation, with scarcely a gleam of intellectual light, or social comfort, beaming out from their history. Do not the readers of Mungo Park recollect the story of poor Nealee? Does not the world know the fate of Park himself, and of Lander? And are not the testimonies abundant to the barbarous treachery and atrocious cruelty of the race, independent of the effects of that European traffic in human flesh and blood, which began, between two and three hundred years ago, to draw off a fraction of this immense amount of human misery, which could scarcely be increased by the agonies and suffocations of “the middle passage”? It was, indeed, this very state of things which presented temptations and opened the door to that traffic, which transplanted a portion of the African race to the Islands and Continent of this Western hemisphere. It is to the Africans themselves, that this trade owes its origin—to their barbarism, to their everlasting trade in war, and the glutting of their own marts with the blood and sinews of their own flesh all to the sore evil of this Continent, and to the inexpiable scandal of Christian Europe, that the flood gates of African barbarism were let out upon these Western Isles and shores, to gratify the lust of gain in those monsters who carried on and profited by the traffic, and to entail a long protracted curse on the less guilty, though not innocent, tenants of this new world.
The continuance of this traffic, and the inhuman over-working of this race in the South American and West Indian Colonies appertaining to the Governments of Europe, are too notorious to require recitation. We are more concerned to notice the history and character of that slavery which is to be found in our own Republic, as the result of that trade which disgraced Christendom, and imposed on the Nations that tolerated and patronized it a fearful responsibility.
Now, what we have to say, in reference to the facts and general allusions appertaining to the history of the African race, comprehensively stated in this chapter, the truth and fairness of which we presume will not be drawn in question, is for the simple purpose of comparison. It is not to apologize for slavery; it is not to palliate, in any degree, the guilt of those agents who introduced it to this Continent; it is not to justify the principle of slavery; it is not to extenuate any of its evils; but simply to determine the question, so far as it may be obvious in the lights of such comparison, whether that portion of the African race to be found in the United States, are actually better off than they would have been any where else, in all reasonable probability?
We think, then, we are prepared to say, that when all the evils of slavery in the Southern States of this country are put together, without abatement in the smallest item; when the domestic slave trade is posted and summed up in all its worst features and worst consequences; when all the overworking of the prœdul slave is brought into the account, with its attendant cruelties; when the driving system, so far as it exists, and all arbitrary severities of discipline for offences, are considered; and nothing of evil that belongs to the whole system in the United States be left out, the fair conclusion will be, that the whole sum is but a small fraction of the same classes of evils that from time immemorial have belonged and still belong to the barbarism of the father land of this race—not reckoning other evils, scarcely to be told for their number, or estimated for their enormity or magnitude, to be found there, but not to be found here.
Although the difference is not of the same kind, nor probably so great, still the comparison of the slavery of the United States with that which has existed in the West Indies and other parts of America, presents the former in the light of comparative comfort and happiness. It may be said, indeed, that in the British West Indies, the quondam slaves, so cruelly treated and so severely overworked, have at last come to their freedom; but it is by far too soon to estimate the result. In St. Domingo, where they have been free, or said to be free, nearly a half century, they are still under “overseers,” and “drivers,” still subject to the law of “passports,” still forced to work a specific number of hours on penalty of fines, imprisonments, and sundry severe modes of discipline, under “the Code rural” and “the Code Henri,” differing in despotic character only, that the people are slaves to the Government, and not to private owners, and driven to work by a black man instead of a white man, when universally they prefer the white, as being more merciful of the two. The three great staples of Hayti fell off from 1791 under the French, to 1822 under Boyer: Sugar from 163,405,220 lbs. annually to 652,541 lbs.; Coffee from 68,151,180 lbs. annually to 35,117,834 lbs.; and Cotton from 6,286,126 lbs. annually to 891,950 lbs.; and have since declined, till the public revenue has fallen below the expenditures of the Government.
We see, then, that the evils of American slavery are blessings as compared with the general fate of the African race in their native Continent, independent of the effects of the exportation of slaves to foreign parts; and that they are light in comparison of other foreign servitude down to this date.
Let us now turn to the scale of comparative comfort and of actual privilege. In the first place, American slaves are placed in the midst of a high state of civilization, where their very bondage has rights secured by law which would be a blessing in Africa, even after deducting the entire scope of the arbitrary sway of masters. They are clustered round a refinement of manners, which, though it may have little influence for the benefit of the prœdal slave, acts powerfully on the great body for their personal improvement and elevation in the scale of intellectual and moral being, and remotely has a favorable effect upon all. A great portion of them have been admitted to no inconsiderable degrees of intellectual and moral culture; domestic and body servants are often found highly improved and accomplished, whose principles, morals, and manners would be a good example to a large part of our white population; the privileges of the Gospel, and its blessed and eternal hopes, have been brought within the reach of a greater proportion of the slaves, than of the white population, who customarily use them, when brought to their doors, and these privileges were being still farther extended till the crusade of the Abolitionists caused them to be abridged; the system of American slavery makes it the interest of the master to be careful of the physical constitution of the slave, that it should not be impaired, and in this particular makes it preferable to the more cruel bondage of British manufactories; American masters are compelled by law to maintain the sick, the infirm, and the aged; the law itself enacts penalties for inhuman treatment, and public opinion sustains it, notwithstanding that in this, as in all states of society, the law may be better than the practice, still, however, it has its general influence for the protection of the slave, and demands justice for him when abused as well as for the abused white man; many of the slaves of this country have emerged, and are constantly emerging, from a state of bondage to a state of freedom, till they amount to about one sixth of the colored population, and are admitted to important civil, social, and religious privileges, though not to all which the Abolitionists claim for them, yet important and invaluable as compared with what they would have been likely to enjoy any where else; the public opinion of this country, previous to the present Abolition agitation, not excepting even that of the slave States, had been constantly growing more favourable to an increased amelioration of slavery, and to ultimate emancipation.
In a word: If we take into consideration the origin of this race, the barbarism, the brutal degradation, and the customary inhuman vices of their ancestry, which remain the same to this day in Africa; if we look at the different conditions and fate of other portions of the same race, who, in consequence of such a state of things in the land of their fathers, have been carried away from their native shores; and then compare the whole with the general progress of nations and tribes in human improvement over the face of the earth, we shall, as we think, be compelled to the conclusion, that no other people can be found on the globe, civilized or uncivilized, who have, within the same period of time, risen so much, or been improved so much, as a body, in their actual condition, social character, privileges, relations, and prospects, for time and for eternity, as that portion of the African race now to be found in the United States of North America.
Let it not be understood or said, that we adduce this great fact, as a bar to any claims that may be fairly asserted by the colored people of this country, bond or free, or in their behalf, to still farther improvement; but only, that it is proper—that in present circumstances, we are bound—to take the most enlarged view of so great a question; that we are bound to consider, as human nature is, and in such a world as ours, that all nations and tribes, in their best estate, necessarily advance in improvement by degrees; that one tribe or nation cannot claim to rise at the expense of another, more especially when their own vices have put them at the bottom of the scale; and that all must fall in with the fair, proper, and unavoidable influence of time, events, and accidental circumstances, over which society, in a regular and constituted course of action, has no control. To insist on breaking in upon this general and conventional movement by violence, on disturbing the established order of human society, to force forward one race, one nation, one tribe, and one class, at the expense of another, and in violation of the recognized principles and actual frame of society, is treason to society, and to the general rights of mankind. The time of absolute perfectionism, either as to individual character, or as to the structure of human society, in our opinion, has not yet come. And while all are anxious for improvement, public and private, and are striving for it, all must consent to carry it forward on recognized principles—on principles which will not tear down society, and subvert and overthrow important advantages and vital interests already acquired for common good.
We say, then, as much as we sympathize with the colored population of this country—and we solemnly aver, that we are not wanting in such sympathy—in all that they are deprived of social advantages and political privileges enjoyed by the white population, in all that they fall below the most satisfactory standard and elevation in human improvement—we say, that we do not see how they can fairly claim to rise by one step to such a desirable point, contrary to the usual modes of progress in human society, and contrary to the known laws and capabilities of human nature, if it must be to the disturbance of the peace of the community, and to the great peril of our Government and its institutions. We have seen, that the colored population of this country, as a body, have not been injured, but benefitted, by the position which they now occupy, not only in comparison with the history of the race to which they belong, but also in comparison with the common history of other tribes and nations. They undoubtedly occupy at this moment the highest point of actual comfort, of social condition, and of general privilege, which has yet fallen to the lot of any portion of the African race.
We have now done with this branch of the subject, and have only to add, that we shall be treated with great injustice, if these considerations are received as having been offered for any other purpose than a shield alike to the social and political fabric of our country against violence, and to the best interests of the colored race.
The Quakers have generally received credit for being a peace-loving and peace-making Society of Christians; and we are compelled to admit, and have great pleasure in doing so, that they have always sustained the character. They have always been known as the opponents of slavery; but their modes of protest and remonstrance have been conducted in the spirit of Christianity. They have never broken the public peace, directly or indirectly, in this conflict of principle; they have never outraged public feeling by obtruding their opinions in a violent way; they have not sought to raise mobs against themselves, and thus get the advantage of a cry of persecution; but they have published their principles in a quiet, and in that way, most influential manner. All the world has known, that the Society of Friends have been opposed to slavery, as well as to war; but society has never been battered by their artillery, by violent and uncharitable denunciation, by defamation, by exaggerated and fictitious stories, by inflammatory appeals, by threatening to overthrow a fabric which they cannot conscientiously support, by undermining the authority of Government and proclaiming it forfeited, and by sowing the seeds of servile insurrection and popular violence. It is known, that a Quaker will not eat sugar or molasses made by a slave; that is a fact that tells—sets people to thinking. It is the silent, insinuating action of principle on society and into the minds of men. The Quakers will do nothing, directly or indirectly, to countenance and support slavery, so far as they can avoid it. Their precepts are known, and their example is seen. They are a living epistle before the world, on this and some other subjects. They use freedom of speech and of the press; they employ persuasion and remonstrance in a Christian like way; they give “line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, and there a little;” but they do no violence. They are faithful and true to their principles, and consistent in practising as well as preaching them; but they assume not the responsibility of disturbing others in the use of a privilege which is so important and dear to themselves. They seem to understand the rule: “Do unto others, as ye would that others should do unto you.” Hence the Quakers never disturb the peace of society. They are good neighbours, good citizens, good, we presume, in domestic and private life, and as we hope, good Christians.
Such is the legitimate action of Christianity, and such is the strongest possible proof, that a man is actuated by Christian principle. Such was the example of Christ and his Apostles. There is not a single intimation, nor fair inference from any fact, that they ever made war upon the existing fabric of society, any farther than the silent action of their principles would gradually operate a change in the social state and in social institutions. Such is the Divine superiority of Christianity: silent, but effective and irresistable in its march—irresistable, because it is never violent—because, veritas valebit, truth will prevail.
But, alas! how utterly opposed to all this are the measures and movements of the Abolitionists! They seem as if they would take heaven and earth by storm; but if they happen to raise a storm over their own heads, they demand impunity from its effects. Stirrers-up of mischief, they deny the right of its re-action on themselves. It is ridiculous, absolutely. If a man will be a fool, he must reap his folly; if “he sows the wind,” he must be content, if the elements in their natural workings should so decree, “to reap the whirlwind.”
If, indeed, we have given more credit to the Quakers than they deserve, we hope, if any of them have got out of the way into the Abolition ranks under their present flag, they will see the propriety of getting back again as fast as they can, for the good reputation of their own Society, that hereafter there may be no exception among them as a good example worthy of imitation in all such matters.
“Yea, doubtless,” saith the Abolitionist, “for reason fails them.” And so we have all done with argument; for we shall not stop to reply to this. “The South know their rights,” said a Southern gentleman the other day on the floor of Congress, very significantly, and in relation to this subject. This, we believe, is the present common feeling of the slaveholding States. They have made up their minds; and we think they will have the sympathy of the reasonable part of mankind. Their present attitude is that of pointing the people of this country to the bulwark of the Federal Constitution; and if that will not protect them, “they know their rights.” We do not quote this language to expose the Southerners to the charge of holding up a menace; for we do not accept it as such, and think it would be unfair for any body to do so. They stand on the defensive; they have been assailed, and are yet assailed; they have felt themselves insulted on the floor of Congress by indirect attempts to invade their rights of State sovereignty; they have been compelled to special legislation and other public action to defend their own territories from violation; they have dreamed of seeing their wives and children butchered, and their houses pillaged and burned; they have seen, in imagination, and as a natural consequence of the Abolition movement unresisted and unchecked, all these and many other horrors of a like kind, enacted before their eyes; they have seen the Government upturned, society dissolved, and anarchy stalking amid the triumphs of its own desolation over their fields; and with such prospects before them, as the result of a foreign interference, organized in open violation of the laws of the land, and in the face of a solemn national compact forbidding such aggression, and engaging to protect and defend them against it, are they not entitled to say—“We know our rights?” How long must they suffer—how long must they be menaced by such invasion, before they may say, we will suffer it no longer? A day of anxiety is as a year of torment; a year of such suspense, is as an age of agony.
And what will they do? Why, clearly, break loose from the Union, to which, generally, they have already made up their minds, in case of necessity, they being judges—if the straws in the wind are any sure indication of its career—“Necessity needs no law.” If the Government of the country will not protect them, they must protect themselves, or try to do so. They may fail, and prove impotent; but when men are insulted and outraged, especially the men of the South, they are not nice calculators of consequences; and it is for us of the North to determine, whether we are willing to see our brethren of the South driven to such a resort, by the continued action of an unlawful combination, that exists and has grown up among ourselves; whether, indeed, we are willing to see the Government of this proud Republic rent asunder by such a cause, and to hazard the consequences.
If any body thinks these remarks are not well founded, we are sorry they are not better observers of the symptomatic phenomena of our own society. If they should think them unreasonable and out of place, we are sorry for that also, as we have judged otherwise, and take leave to invite their attention to the next chapter.
We do not believe, after what has taken place, that the Abolitionists will be able to carry emancipation. Their imprudent and rash modes of action seem to have barred the door effectually against that event for the present. We think it reasonable to say, that without the concurrence of the slave States, such an event is impossible. But such is the character, effectiveness, and irresistible sweep of their organization, that it cannot fail to break down something; and that something, we fear, will be the Federal Union. We now propose to give our reasons for this apprehension. Those reasons are embodied in the unconstitutional and illegal character of the Association.
The political structure of our Government cannot be too much admired for the balance of power which is every where to be found in its Constitutional modes of action. The theory seems to be a perfect one. But the moment there is a departure from the rules, or a violation of the principles of Constitutional law, the machinery is embarrassed, and danger threatens. In the same manner as the action of the Government demands a strict adherence to these rules, so also does the action of the people. We have seen in the second chapter what rules the Federal Constitution and those of the States prescribe to individual and popular action for political purposes, independent of and in addition to the privilege of the elective franchise: freedom of speech and of the press, and the right of petition, address, and remonstrance to the Government. It was there stated, that the license given to these proscribed forms constituted equally a law of prohibition to all other forms, as it would be absurd to suppose, that a written law of this kind is not a law of limitation; in other words, that it is no law at all. It was also shown, as is manifest at first sight, that this license is all sufficient, as the people always have their remedy in the elective franchise, if the Government do not regard their wishes, as expressed in these modes. No occasions can be expected to occur, that would require to transcend these salutary rules; and we believe the existence and action of the American Anti-Slavery Society, as an independent political body, is the first instance, in the history of our country, by which they have been transcended.
It is true, indeed, that a popular charge has been brought against the Masonic Institution, as having been perverted into political action, and as being dangerous to the liberties of the country on that account. How far this charge is just, it is impossible for us to know, as we have never been a member of that Society. It is sufficient to observe, that the very suspicion of such action has operated, as is well known, almost entirely to suppress that Institution, and wind up its history in the country. Had the truth of this charge been obvious, and as susceptible of proof, as in the case of the American Anti-Slavery Society, we need not say what would have been its fate. The legislation of the country would have settled the matter soon. We believe it to be a self-evident proposition, that the genius of a Constitutional Government, or of any government whatever, does not admit of a rival independent political organization on the same territory; that it cannot tolerate any permanent political organization at all independent of itself; much less one of unlimited powers. It would not be very acceptable, even if it were to come in as an auxiliary, but would rather be regarded as an insult. There is no point of view in which we can conceive it would be welcome.
It would be ridiculous and impotent to say, that the action of the American Anti-Slavery Society cannot be liable to objection, since it is open, and not secret, like the Masonic Institution, admitting that the latter is fairly accused by popular suspicion. Such a plea would justify the acts of fraud, theft, felony, and crime of any description, if they be done openly. It is only the more astonishing, that it should be endured. But the reason of that we have already stated: It is a new thing under the Sun; the public have been taken by surprise; and have not even yet recovered from the shock. It was taken for granted, that religion could not find its way into the State over such Constitutional barriers erected to intercept the trespass; and yet it is there—the religion of a Sect—of a great, powerful, fanatical, religioso-political sect—which, having leaped the wall, has carried with it a great and powerful political machinery from another region, and is well at work, as if it were perfectly at home. It may be said, that the political world has never yet had such a fellow worker before, and looks at it askance as a strange companion, not knowing what to make of it. Doubtless, after a little reflection, a more definite opinion will be formed of its unwelcome character and awkward position.
But, it is proper to exhibit more distinctly the beautiful and symmetrical action of the Constitutional law of this land, when scrupulously observed in regard to such matters, and how a departure from it leads to difficulty. It will be seen, that freedom of speech and of the press, and the right of petition, address, and remonstrance to Government, as guaranteed, are important safety valves, through which to give scope to individual opinion, and vent to popular fermentations. The regular action of these powers in the Constitutional modes, and through the Constitutional channels, are always balanced by each other. That same freedom of speech and of the press which is guaranteed to one individual or party, is guaranteed to another; and the inordinate excesses of each are sure to be counteracted by the ordinary sway of these Constitutional principles; at least, so far as the imperfect state of society will allow. It seems to be the highest attainment of a practical political sagacity. In the same manner, the action of associated popular movements, when they aim to affect and influence the Government, is always balanced by the counteraction of one party as opposed to the other, so long as both keep within the prescribed forms of the Constitution and laws, and connect themselves regularly with the Government in the recognized modes of petition, address, or remonstrance. In this way it is impossible that one party should gain a sudden, undue, and overwhelming advantage, to which they are not fairly entitled by the merits of their cause, and by a fair hearing before the public.
But the moment that one party, or any new party, is permitted to set up an independent, permanent, and unconstitutional political machinery, having no connexion with the Government, but acting under a polity of its own, as much and as truly as an independent empire, and thus instituting a mode of action unknown to the Constitution and laws, this salutary equipoise of influence is lost, in the same manner as by throwing an ounce weight into one of two scales equally balanced, the other is made to kick the beam. Such is the character, and such the overbearing power of the American Anti-slavery Society in the political condition of our country. There is, there can be, no balance of influence, apart from the interference of authority, except by setting up another unconstitutional organization, to put aside the Constitutional Government, to carry on the war between themselves, and settle the questions in dispute, as best they might; in other words, to establish the reign of anarchy.
So long as the American Anti-slavery Society is permitted to exist, and to carry on its operations under its present form, it is not the reason of their cause that prevails, but the power of their machinery in its action on the public mind. All opposing influences, so long as the Government is inactive, are like the scattering, random, and over-shoulder shot of a routed and retreating host that is flying in the field before the well-formed, steady, and disciplined march of a triumphant army—triumphant, because there is no corresponding agency to oppose them, not because they have the right. Such, precisely, is the effect of all the newspaper squibs that are fired off on the Abolitionists, and such the effect of the unorganized remonstrances of the public. The Abolitionists are in the field with a disciplined army, officered, paid, with a full staff, and an adequate Commissariat. In other words, they are a regularly organized and permanent political body, acting under a complete State machinery in all that their exigences require, adding to it at pleasure, with ever active and industrious agents, with money at command and the power of the press, and as independent of the Government of this country as the throne of the Sultan at Constantinople—and yet doing the business of the country!
There are most obvious reasons, why such a power, once recognized as suitable and proper, will carry all before it, till it shall have dissolved the Government of this country. The Abolitionists have all the native and long cherished feeling of the North on their side, as being opposed to slavery in principle; they have all the advantage of the sympathies of our nature, when we consider the manner in which they represent the case; they have the common and prevailing popular ignorance of the nature of our political fabric to aid them—for it is not to be supposed, that the people generally will have clear and uniform views on a question upon which Statesmen differ; and to the effect of all these natural and social auxiliaries, they superadd the power of their immense, combined, and variously ramified machinery, which steals every where upon the public, catching every man, woman, and child, whose benevolent sympathies are naturally open to their appeals, and when once they are indoctrinated after the manner and in the school of the Abolitionists, and become possessed of their spirit, there is little chance for the sway of those principles on which our political society is based. It is not the fair argument of the cause, but the power of this political combination, that bears such sway. There is no chance for a candid hearing before the public, and for the due influence of all the considerations which appertain to this momentous and complicated question, because the constitutional balance of power, designed for such exigences, has been prostrated by an usurpation, and every thing is made to give way to isolated and abstract opinions, and to the dictations of political quackery. Fanaticism rules, and not reason; and the natural and inevitable consequence will be, that the gradual accumulation of this moral power, thus acquired, will swell to a magnitude, and urge on a momentum, before the pressure of which the Union will be compelled to yield and break down. The people of the South will be annoyed and vexed, till they can be annoyed and vexed no longer. Then will be the beginning of the end.
Are we understood? Is it not clear, that it is this political usurpation of an unlawful power, that puts the country in peril? Let this irregularity, this transcending of law, be reduced again to the Constitutional basis, and all this excitement, alarm, and danger, will die away, because the healthful Constitutional balance of influence would be restored. Opinion would then encounter opinion on common ground, with no undue advantage of one party over another.
“But, then,” say the Abolitionists, “we must give up our cause.” It will have an equal chance with any other. “But,” they add, “we have nine points of the law against the Constitution: actual possession of the field, and do not choose to give it up.” We are quite aware, that usurpation will always hold on to its unlawfully acquired power, as long as it can; and it is not to be expected, that the Abolitionists will readily concede, that they have been guilty of such a fault. It is a novel experiment in the history of our country; and as to its form, novel in the history of political society. Religion has often usurped political power, and the Constitutional frame of our Government has taken great pains to guard against it; but, we will venture to say, that no human foresight ever anticipated a trespass of this kind: that, by an independent organization of its own devising, religion should come armed into the field, to eject the previous occupants by force—not to divide power and the spoils, but to take sole possession, and set up a new order of things to its own will.
We shall be as stout an advocate for the political rights of religionists of all persuasions, as any body; at the same time we are not prepared to concede to them the right of an independent political organization, in violation of the law, to disturb the peace, endanger the Government, and overthrow the institutions of the country. That the Abolitionists have been guilty of this trespass, we are sorry, because the country is the sufferer; that they should be compelled to tread back, and resign their ill gotten power, we shall be glad, because we believe, that law, propriety, and the good of the country, require it. We believe, too, that the good of the slaves, and the welfare of the free colored people, require it.
If the main argument of this work is sound—and we are unable to see why it is not—the tables are fairly turned on the Abolitionists, who have been crying out for freedom, and the freedom of the Constitution. Enough, we trust, has been said, in the progress of these discussions, to show, that the action of the American Anti-Slavery Society, as a grand and permanent political organization, destroys that balance of individual and popular influence, which the Constitutional law of this land was intended to establish, fortify, and secure; and which is, in truth, the grand palladium of our liberties. The chapter immediately preceding brings this matter to a point.
The freedom of speech and of the press, and the rights of popular action, as guaranteed by the Constitution, or Constitutions, are not worth a penny, so long as the agency of such an institution as the American Anti-Slavery society is permitted to be brought into the field against them. For it is overwhelming by the force of its polity. No matter what may be the prevailing feeling of the public, at any given time in regard to it; no matter how many single voices may be raised in remonstrance against the Abolition movement; no matter how many newspapers may blaze away at the common enemy; no matter how many resolutions of rebuke may be passed by the Senate of the Nation; no matter what other forms of action, by whom soever or where soever, may be instituted, within the prescribed forms of the Constitution, to encounter this foe; yet, so long as the Government, which is the only agency that can treat with such an unconstitutional usurpation on equal terms, remains inactive, they will avail nothing. They are all crippled and rendered nugatory by the moral power and irresistible momentum of this regular system of means, under a State machinery, that is brought into the field. The Abolitionists know their power, under such an advantage, and laugh their enemies to scorn. By the influence of their organization, by its constant, systematic, and all pervading action, they expect, and not without reason, to carry all before them in the free States.
All the freedom guaranteed by the Constitution to their opponents is worth nothing in the scale against such a power; it is annihilated. There is no equality of privilege between the parties.
The reason why the public generally have not understood the character of this enemy, is because it came by a sudden leap, by a sort of somerset, from the religious world, with the operations of which the public, as a body, have not concerned themselves. It is in fact a foreign organized power, that has stolen a march on the territories of the Republic, obtained a footing, and gained an alarming ascendancy, before the public were apprized of the fact, or had any true knowledge of the character of the invaders; and such is their overpowering influence, by virtue of a political polity, that the privileges secured by the Constitution and laws, as a means of opposing them, are rendered utterly valueless, in any thing short of the interposition of authority.
How can the private action of individuals, how can the press in its customary forms, how can the resolutions of popular assemblies, of legislative bodies, of Congress itself, counteract the movements of such on organization? They are utterly impotent. Their influence expires with their acts; while that of this Society, on account of its systematic and efficient organization is untiring, assiduous, is every where, lives forever, and is forever augmenting its forces. The American Anti-Slavery Society can command all the money it wants, and money will command agencies of every description; money is the animating soul of every political body.
It is of no use, therefore, that the Constitutional law of this land has secured these sacred privileges, so long and so highly valued, while the same law is transcended and trampled under foot by this antagonist power. All the imagined advantages of this boasted freedom are annihilated by the sweeping claims and prerogatives of this usurpation. All our liberties are but a name, if such an organization may come in, expunge them from the Charter, and abolish their sway, by setting up a power which the Constitution itself cannot contend with, without calling to its aid the arm of authority, because the rules of the Constitution are violated.
Having discharged this duty—a sincere and conscientious duty, as we profess—to the country, to the cause of humanity, and above all, to that God whom we desire to worship and serve, we are content to submit the question to the public, and await their decision, whether, a new DYNASTY, under the form of a RELIGIOSO-POLITICAL ORGANIZATION, shall be permitted to take the field; or whether, the OLD AND CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT shall stand?
THE END.