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LECTURE,
SHOWING THE NECESSITY FOR A
LIBERTY PARTY.
AND SETTmO FORTH ITS PRINCIPLES, MEASURES, AND ODJECT.
tY
^mm©L\n) %mm[
"WHOSO 8T0PPETH HIS EARS AT THE CRY OP THE POOR.
HE ALSO SHALL CRY HIMSELF BUT SHALL NOT BE HEARD."
CINCINNATI:
CALEB CLARK, PRINTER.
1844.
. 3n
LECTURE,
SHOWING THE NECESSITY FOR A
LIBERTY PARTY:
AND SETTING FORTH ITS PRINCIPIES, MEASURES, AND OBJECT.
•• In the dark ages of the world, when the human mind was held in
thraldom by artifice, superstition and bigotry, ignorance superceded the
influence of reason, and man became but as the slave of man'"
Such was the declaration of one of the brightest intellects that our
country has ever produced ; and that it is an important and solemn
truth, the history of the world bears ample testimony.
Where ignorance of the rights and duties of humanity prevails, there
the spirit of oppression, uniting in the breasts of the ambitious and as-
piring feiOy stimulates to the establishment of a lordly aristocracy, who
trample upon the rights of the many, until by degrees, they are reduced
to a state of servitude, either collectively through the agency of the gov-
ernment, or individually by the power of the master, aided by the civil
law ; so that the masses are doomed to be "hewers of wood and draw-
ers of water," and to perform all the labor of production in the commu-
nity ; while aristocratic nabobs, by one device or another, manage to ap-
propriate to tl: -Jill selves so great a share of the production, as enables
them to riot in wealth, in luxury, in pomp, and pride and power, and
the producers are subjected to a condition of abject penury and want.
Wretched and deplorable as is the picture, which the spirit of oppres-
sion thus exercised presents to our view, of gorgeous wealth and ex-
travagance on the one hand, and squalid poverty and suffering on the
other, it still falls infinitely short of the frightful exhibition of wicked-
ness and crime, which under such a culture of the fruitful soil of frail
humanity, springs forth in luxuriant abundance, obscuring the glory of
the noblest workmanship of the Creator of the universe, and sinking to
degradation, infamy and ruin, beings constituted but little lower than
Angels, and designed for glory, immortality and eternal life.
In the opposite extremes of riches and luxury on the one hand, and
destitution and starvation on the other, we may ever look in vain for
the exhibition o? justice, virtue and truth, as the characteristics of such
a community.
Oppression, in itself, is one of the most heinous sins in the sight of
God ; and he who so disregards the divine law of love as to be guilty
of this sin, cannot escape its soul-hardening influence ; and by its inev-
itable tendency, his conscience becomes seared, and the spirit of pride,
arrogance and despotism, rises into dominion in his mind, and he becomes
the enemy of the peace, prosperity and happiness of his species. While
he tramples upon the rights of those by whose labor and suffering he
lives, his wicked example exerts a powerful influence in the destruction
of their moral principle, and their destitution and misery drive them to
the commission of crime, to obtain sustenance for their animal nature.
Wherever the spirit of oppression rules, ambition, violence, pride and
revenge, are the characteristics of the aristocracy ; while meanness,
sycophancy, lying, theft and prostitution are the characteristics of the
oppressed.
There is probably no community composed of oppressors and oppres-
sed, but which contains also, an intermediate class, a small phalanx of
middling-interest men, separate and distinct from both the other classes.
Among these, we find the principles of justice, and the love of virtue
predominant. And here is an exhibition of the excellency of that re^
ligion which teaches its disciples, in all things, to do unto others as we
would have them do unto us. These remain to be the salt of the earth,
the light of the world — and for their sakes, God spares the the world
yet a little longer ; while, by his faithful Ministers, and by his Holy
Spirit, he is calling unto both oppressors and oppressed to forsake their
sins, repent and live-
In these United States of America, the spirit of oppression was ear-
ly transplanted from the old world, and docpotlcm in itc most frightful
form, here raised its hideous head. Men who fled from oppression in
England, here became the most rank oppressors ; buying, holding, and
treating their fellow men as if they were endowed by their Creator with
no more rights than dumb animals. Thus a system of oppression and
robbery of rights was established in our country, which has extended
itself, until it has become the ruling spirit and the predominating inter-
est in the land. This interest is sustained by the laws of half the
States of our Union, and also by the laws of the national Government.
By virtue of these laws, every inch of grouud in our country is so far
accursed with the demon spirit of oppression, that one-sixth part of the
children born in our land, are every where s\xh]&ci to the yoke of bond-
age, and to the ruthless gripe of the oppressor. The existence of such
a system on our soil, has exerted a powerful influence in strangling the
spirit and quenching the fire of liberty, that sixty years ago burned
bright in the bosoms of our fathers ; and the aristocratic spirit is rising
into dominion, and threatening the destruction of all that is just and ho-
ly among men.
The question has arisen, and is now forced upon us to decide, " Shall
our country, like the Republics in olden time, be surrendered to the spi-
rit of tyranny and despotism : shall it go down in darkness and des-
pair 1 or, shall the genius of liberty be invoked and aroused, to save us
from the thraldom which now involves those fair regions which once
boasted of their freedom, but where despotism now reigns with unlimi-
ted sway^'
As the fire is increased in proportion to the fuel wherewith it is sup-
plied, so the spirit of ambition grows brighter and stronger in the hu-
man bosom, as the best of power is stimulated by acquisition and exer-
cise. And as the bestowment of power upon individuals in a great na-
tion like ours, is indispensable to the administration of the sovereignty
of government, the safety of the people, and the preservation of their
liberties, can only be maintained by the most vigilant watchfulness and
care.
The tendency of all human governments is to concentrate wealth and
power in a few privileged families, who by degrees come to be regarded
as the legitimate rulers of the nation, and who at the same time regard
the mass of the people as mere instruments, to pander to their gratifi-
cation in the acquisition and enjoyment of wealth — to fight for them
their battles — to gather laurels for their brows, and to build for them
monuments of imperishable fame ; while the people are made to forge
for themselves chains — to crouch before the spirit of oppression — to dis-
robe themselves of their humanity, and to become mere beasts of bur-
den under the yoke of their lorrlly oppressors.
To guard against the catastrophe of this tendency — to preserve to
ourselves and our children the rights and enjoyments designed for us by
an all-bountiful Creditor — to give to the world of mankind an illustration
of the capacity of a nation of freemen to govern themselves, and to
maintain unimpaired their liberties and their rights, it is indispensable
that the wise and the virtuous — the patriot, the philanthropist, and the
christian, should exercise an untiring and sleepless vigilance on the
citadel of freedom; and should exert all that influence which their vir-
tues secure to them, in promoting the election of men, to make and ad-
minister the laws, the conduct of whose lives is an exhibition of the
fruit of those correct principles, on which alone we can rely for the ben-
eficial exercise of that power, which the people delegate to those whom
they elect to offices in the government.
In taking a survey of the present condition of the people in all the
nations of Europe, the conclusion is irresistably forced upon us, that
6
the government, in each and all of them, is^but an engine of oppression
to the many, while it gathers so large a share of the productions of the
laboring poor, and bestows it upon the few, as enables them to live in
splendid palaces, keep their swarms of liveried servants, feast on the
most costly viands, roll through the streets in splendid coaches, and, in
short, indulge in every luxury, extravagance and vice.
With these facts before us in relation to the condition of the people of
other lands, it becomes us, candidly and impartially to inquire, "What
are the causes, of the oft-recurring pecuniary embarrassments, and pros-
tration of the prosperity of our country? And what are the means by
which such calamities can be averted in future, and our rights and lib-
erties rendered secure"!"
As a nation, we possess the elements of prosperity in a greater de-
gree than any other people. The extent and fertility of our soil — the
salubrity of our climate — the great abundance of water power disper-
sed over the land, sufficient to perform, in mechanical and manufactur-
ing operations, the labor of millions of men — the facilities for inter-
nal commerce, by natural water courses and lakes, with the mines of
wealth in the hoioels of the earth, consisting of Salt, Coal, Iron, Lead,
Copper, Silver and Gold, in abundance. These all combined and de-
veloped by the industry of an intelligent, hardy and enterprising popu-
lation, should assuredly constitute us the most prosperous people on the
face of the earth. Let us then diligently search for the cause which has
kept us back from that state of unequalled prosperity, which the boun-
ties of nature and providence unite in tendering to our acceptance ;
and let us like men do our duty, in applying the proper remedy.
Our leading politicians, of ik« Wriig, t}i« l^m^oraiic, and the Tyler
parties, all agree, that we possess the sources of wealth and prosperity,
hey ond any other people; and they also a/Z agree, that our reverses of
prosperity are chargeable upon the mal conduct of political demagogues,
in the administration of the government ; each party alledging that its
opponents are bad men, and hostile to the interests and welfare of the
people.
In this view of the character of their opponents, we give them full
credit for accuracy of judgment, and truthfulness in declaring it. That
the blame rests on the heads of the aspiring demagogues, w-ho lead in
those parties, and who control the administration of the national gov-
ernment, there can be no dispute.
What then is that element in our country, which corrupts our politi-
cians and statesmen, and so controls our national legislation, as thus
successfully to thwart the natural results of the intelligence, industry
and enterprise of the people?
In the apportionment of Representatives and Presidential Elector
amono' the States, the people of the ?zon-slaveholding Slates, are repre-
sented in proportion to their population, they are not privileged to elect
members of Congress, or Presidential Electors, to represent their prop-
erty. But the citizens of the Slaveholding States, having chosen to in-
vest a portion of thdr capital in human beings, instead of dumb animals,
holding property in men, women and children, to the amount of twelve
hundred millions of dollars, are deemed, /or tliis violation of the laws o
God, and the rights of man, to be entitled to especial and peculiar fa-
vors and privileges, and are therefore permitted to elect twenty-one
members of Congress, and twenty-one Presidenti^.! Electors, as the rep-
resentatives of their property. In addition to this most extraordinary
element in our national government, the fact that the laboring portion
of the free population of the Slaveholding States, are not permitted to
exercise their right to vote, in the choice of their rulers, secures to the
Slaveholder twice as much political power as is exercised by a freeman
in a non-Slaveholding State ; so that in point of fact, one thousand
Slaveholders' votes, go as far in the election of the President and the
Congress, as two thousand votes of freemen north of Mason and Dixon's
line.
This power, awarded to those who claim property in human beings,
of having tliat property represented, both in the Presidential election,
and in the Legislative department, is the element, which corrupts the as-
pirants to office in our country, controls all the measures of foreign and
domestic policy in our government, and so frames those measures as to
give them the greatest possible tendency to buildup a Cotton, Sugar, and
Tobacco planting, ana Giavc-huldlng Aiiscocracy m the land, and to pros-
trate the prosperity of every other interest of domestic industry through-
out the whole country.
Here, fellow-citizens, is the key which unlocks the mystery of all
that servility and debasement, which mark the career of our northern
dough-faced politicians, in their humble submission to the arrogant de-
mands and threats of the lordly nabobs who traffic in human flesh and
blood. Here is the true secret of the cause why all aspirants, even to
the most petty offices, are so exceedingly zealous that the stigma of be-
ing thought favorable to the cause of universal liberty, should be ward-
ed off from their parly. Political demagogues, of every grade, regard
it as an object of the first importance to the success of their own ele-
vation, that the national party to which they belong should be in the
ascendancy in the General Government, because the party in power, al-
ways attracts to its support, a large portion of those who have not suffi-
cient intelligence and principle to act upon the convictions of their own
understanding. Therefore it is, that political aspirants are so fixdeed-
incly zealous to secure the vote of the privileged class for their party, in
the election of our national President. And seeing the slaveholders
too well understand their own interests, as slaveholders, to vote for any
parly which is favorable to the principles of human liberty, or opposed
to aristocratical domination and oppression, it is nothing strange that
unprincipled men, whatever may be the secret convictions of their own
minds, should vie with each other in professions of devotion to the
Slave- power, and of hostility to every movement in favor of Liberty.
Hence the slanders which emanate from the political press, and even
from a corrupted portion of the ecclesiastical and religious organiza-
tions, against the advocstes of the holy principles of haman rights.
Hence, too, the secret slanders of the ravening wolves who go about in
sheep's clothing, laboring incessantly to defeat the labors of those who
have taken their lives in their hands, and forsaken the pursuit of gain,
and the comforts of a home, and are wearing themselves out in pleading
before a guilty nation, the cause of the millions who are wickedly rob-
bed of the right to plead for themselves. The judgments of an offend-*
ed God, have evidently been poured out upon some of these secret slati'
derers ; let others take warning, fear and repent, before it be too
late.
This is the key which unlocks the secret of the voluntary surrender,
by the representatives of freemen, of the rights of their constituents,
and of the principles on which alone are based the liberties of any portion
of the human race. Hence, too, the base truckling of the Church to the
dark'spirit of Slavery, and its hostility to those labors of love in the cause of
Freedom and Humanity, wliich fill Uic heart of tto aroal christian with
rejoicing, and give him confidence to look forward in hope, to the com-
ing of that glorious day, when every yoke of bondage shall be broken,
and the oppressed shall go free.
All these things are done, by the seekers after popularity, and by the
lovers of worldly applause, to secure the praise and the favors of the
oppressors of God's poor, because they, being a privileged class, hold the
reins of popularity, and dispense the patronage of the Government upon
whomsoever they will.
Having been a careful observer of the proceedings of the National
Government for half a century — having witnessed its devotion for up-
wards of forty years to the Slaveholding interest, I have been led to
look carefully over the acts of national legislation, and to examine mi-
nutely the operation and bearing of the measures which have been adop-
ted, and I can arrive at no other conclusion, than that for the last /orfy
years, every act of a national character, lias originated with the SIav®»
holders, and has been adopted in a spirit of devotion to their interests,
and of hostility to every other interest in our country. Thus OUR na-
iional Government has already been made, like the governments of Eu-
rope, an engine for building up an ARISTOCRACY in OUR country,
which when once completely organized, will rob, not only the slaves on
their own plantations, but also nine-tenths of the American people of
iheir rights, and reduce them to the same wretched condition, which is
now witnessed among the laboring population in Europe.
Notwithstanding the representation of the property of Slaveholders
in the national government, we in the non-Slaveholding States, having
nearly three-fourths of the popular vote of the nation, have a majority
of 47 members in Congress, and the same majority in the Presidential
Electoral Colleges: So that, were it not for the dough-faced servility of
a portion of the representatives of freemen, in the Presidential election
and in Congress, we might even now, have our rights protected, ovr
welfare promoted, and all our elements of prosperity and sources of
wealth successfully developed.
The remedy which we need, for the difficulties we now suffer, is to
be found in the election of a President and members of Congress, who
will not basely bow themselves down to the moloch of Slavery, but who
will impartially administer the government on its true and original prin-
ciples, for the promotion of the general welfare, and equally for the
benefit of all who are subject to its power. The election of such men,
is entirely within the power of the non-slaveholders of the country ;
and such men will be elected, just so soon as the non-slaveholders shall
have been effectually aroused, to investigate and understand the arts of
designing demagogues, who have beretoforp but too successfully decei-
ved the majority, into the support of Slaveholding Aristocrats, or the
sycophantic tools of the Slave power.
Within the last 42 years, Slaveholders have filled the Presidential office
34 years, and non-Slaveholders only 8 years. The office of Chief Jus-
tice of the Supreme Court, Speaker of the House of Representatives,
President pro tem. of the Senate, Secretary of State, and most of the
other departments of the Government, have been equally occupied and
controlled by men, who from the nature of their ^'peadiar intitutions ,'^
are inevitably hostile to a laboring community of freemen.
Some of the measures which the Government has adopted, intended
for the promotion of the Slave interest, have, by the ingenuity and en-
terprize of freemen, been so appropriated as to become productive of
general benefit to the whole community, and to promote the prosperity
and welfare of all; but when it has become evident, that an adherence
Jo the existing order of things, would be productive of such favorahle
10
results, the policy has been changed, and measures which were opera-
ting tbus beneficially, have been abolished ; so that we have in the end
been made deeply to suffer, in consequence of having conformed our
business arrangements, to the operation of ihe acts of the Govern-
ment.
When the Slaveholders have desired any measure of foreign or do-
mestic policy, calculated to strengthen their power in controlling the ac-
tion of the Government, or to promote their individual proaperty, they
have always come up to the executive or legislative department/)f the
Government, with an authoritative demand for compliance with their
interests or wishes, and they have in no case been finally defeated. Ev-
ery law has been passed, every measure adopted, at whatever sacrifice
of all other interests it might require, which the Slaveholders have de-
manded for their benefit. On the other hand, the interests of non-Slavs-
holders, have as invariably been unheeded ; or what is still worse, the
action of the Government has in many important cases, been hostile to
the non-Slaveholding interest, without the anticipation of benefit to any
body. No Measure of a general character, tending to our benefit, has
been permitted to stand any longer than was necessary to answer some sin-
ister purpose of the Slaveholders, or to operate upon our concerns, as the
bait operates upon the fox, who is thereby beguiled into the well-con-
cealed trap, which is then sprung upon him, whereby his foe is enabled
to rob him of his skin. Such precisely has been the operation of our
lariflf laws, by which the citizens of the non-Slaveholding States, were
induced to invest a hundred million dollars in manufacturing establish-
ments, all to be swept away, by the springing of the Calhoun and Clay
compromise trap upon them in 1^'6'6. Sucli too was the operation of
two United States Bank charters, each running 20 years; just long
enough for the people to conform their business arrangements to the
operations of "tte Great Regidator;" when by the demand of the Slave-
holders, they were both forced to go down, that they might carry down
with them the general prosperity of the people.
To these statements and charges, bold and sweeping as they are, I
challenge an answer. If there is any politician. Whig, Democrat, or
Tyler man, who can name an instance in which the Slaveholders have
failed of obtaining a compliance with their interest and wishes, or in
which any measure has been adopted, carried out, and persevered in, for
the advancement of any of the other great interests of the country, I
hope that through some medium, they will let the public know what it
is. I call not for private contradictions of my statements ; my allega-
tions are publicly made, and the challenge for an answer is a public one;
]et the refutation be as public as are my charges, and then I will con-
11
elude, that the retipondant has some confidence that he will be able t(J
maintain his ground. I call not fur mere declamation, or common par-
ty slang ; but I call for facts, and I challenge the world to name the
facts, in contradiction of the statements herein contained.
I call upon the leaders of the two great political parties, which have
ruled the nation for the last forty years, to let the people know what
benefits they have derived from the action of the Government, to support
which, we have paid more than five hundred millions of dollars in taxes,
of the earnings of the laboring people. For let the revenue of the Go-
vernment be collected in what manner it may, whether by direct taxa-
tion, or indirectly, by the laying of duties on articles of consumption,
the whole amount must be supplied by the productive industry of the
country.
If any measures have been adopted by the Government, which were
intended by any portion of those who voted for them, to promote the
prosperity of the non-Slaveholders of the country, such measures have
been suffered to remain in operation, onlylong enough to induce a change
in individual pursuits in conformity to the encouragement thus held out
by the Government, and then, they have been prostrated at the demand
of the dealers in human flesh, and those who had trusted to the faith of
the Government, have been prostrated with them.
The Slaveholders in all the Slates of our Union give but about two
hundred and fifty thousand votes in popular elections; while the non-
Slaveholders give more than two millions, being more than eight times
as many as are given by the Slaveholders. Hence it is evident, that
when the true issue, of Slavery, or Liberty, shall constitute the division
line of political parties in our country, the aristocratical power will be
entirely prostrated in the National Government, and the traffickers in
human flesh will be left to rely on State legislation alone, for the protec-
tion of their '^peculiar institution.'" Then a President and a Congress
will be elected, who will be neither Slaveholders, nor the sycophantic
tools of Slaweholders. Our Government will then mark out and establish
a systematic and permanent policy, and will conduct the affairs of the
nation, in accordance with (not "the wishes of Slaveholders," but) the
interests of freemen, and with the principles of the Declaration of
Independence; giving stability and permanency to that cause, in which
our forefathers embarked, when they declared it to be a self-evident
truth, that all men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator
with an unalienable right to be free, and to pursue their own happi-
ness. The principles of a true democracy will then be practically ap-
plied in the administration of the Government ; the rights of the people
'vill then be maintained, and their welfare and prosperity will be so
12
pfomoted, that the spirit of aristocracy will stand abashed, in despaiii*
of obtaining a royal diadem, or of effecting by any means the subjuga-
tion of the people. Then indeed will our institutions and our prosperi-
ty hold out to an admiring world, an irresistible invitation to demolish
their thrones, dash their crowns in pieces, and build upon their ruins a
temple of freedom, to guard the rights, and promote the happiness and
welfare of the people.
Our whole object as a political party is, the inculcation and practical
application of the great principles of human rights, derived from the
charter given forth by the Supreme Laav Givek of the universe, when
He created man in his own image, and gave to man universally the
right to exercise dominion over all inferior beings in this world. We
believe, that it is only by the faithful maintenance of these principles
that any people can long retain their liberty, and enjoy the rights and
privileges mercifully dispensed to all, by the common Parent of us all.
The practical application of these principles will put an end to all ty-
ranny and oppression throughout the world, and secure to every human
being the perfect enjoyment of the right to pursue his own happiness ;
restricted only by the divine prohibition of authority to trespass upon
the happiness of others.
Hitherto, the mass of mankind have been eveloped in mental and mo-
ral darkness, intelligence has not been sufficiently diffused among the
masses, nor the moral principle sufficiently cultivated, to bring them
forth from the degradation into which oppression has plunged them. It
is but 201 years since the first newspaper was printed in England; and
before the art of printing was known, a puur man gave thirteen year's
labor for one copy of the bible. Now, the PRESS, that mighty engine,
is disseminating intellectual and moral light and life throughout the
earth: it is the Archimedian fulcrum found, whereon to ply the lever
that moves the world. By its influence, aided by the living voice of
pure philanthropy, knowledge shall be poured into every hamlet and ev-
ery cottage, and the moral virtues shall be cultivated in every heart, then
will aristocratical oppression of every form, vanish before the light of
truth, as the darkness of night fleeth before the rising sun.
The public sentiment of the world, is now in a state of transition
from darkness to light, and it is the work of christian philanthropy, to
accelerate this transition by the communication to the public mind, of
facts, illustrations, and arguments, showing the dreadful consequences
which have resulted from the exercise of aristocratical and arbitrary
power, trampling the rights of the many under foot, and robbing them
of the fruit of their labor, to pamper a privileged class, in the exercise
of dominion over their fellow men.
IS
This regeneration of the public sentiment is rapidly progressing hy
the power of truth, which is ever mighty, and when brought to bear
upon existing abominations, never fails of accomplishing their over-
throw. When this regeneration shall have been fully accomplished, it
will speak out in the social circle, in the church, and in all the depart-
ments of the body politic, in vindication of the true doctrine of human
rights.
It was the declared object of our fathers in establishing the Constitu-
tion of the United States, to secure to themselves and to their posterity
the blessings of liberty; this object can never be realized, merely by the
delineation of true principles of government on paper, in the form of
Constitutions and laws; it can only be made secure to us and our poster-
ity, by the establishment in the public sentiment, of those heaven-born
principles, which are now upheaving the false elements of existing or-
ganizations, throughout the civilized world.
The American Liberty Party, is not, (as it is often denominated by
our opponents) a third party. We are the true original American par-
ty, seeking to carry out the principles of our forefathers, as set forth in the
declaration of Independence. These principles have for a time been lost
sight of, in the fog of the two great parties, which are contending with
each other for the mastery, not for the promotion of the cause of liberty,
but for the establishment of a domineering Oligarchy, and for the per-
petuation of the old monarchical and aristocratical doctrine, that the
well born and the rich have a right to tyranize over the poor, and to ap-
propriate to themselves the product of their labor.
We hold, that the all-wise Creator of the Universe hath endowed man
with certain rights — that those rights being the gift of God, are inalien-
able — that they appertain to man as man, and because he is man — that
they are essential ingredients in his constitution as a moral agent-~and
that God himself cannot take them away, without destroying the organ-
ization and constitution of human nature.
Man has no rights, except those which appertain to his nature and
are the gift of God — he can have no other rights — government cannot
create rights, and no man can by any possibility, acquire any right,
which does not exist in his constitution as a moral agent — there are na
Other rights, there can be none other.
To prevent bad men from encroaching upon those rights, and to pro-
mote the most perfect enjoyment, and the most beneficial exercise of the
same, social compacts or governments are instituted. The only legiti-
mate purpose and duty of human government is, the protection of each
and every member of the social compact, in the enjoyment of his natural
rights, and to afford facilities of combination, where combination isne-
14
cesjary, for the altaiinneiit ot' the greatest good in the exercise of those
rjglits.
Any government whicli assumes the prerogative of trespassing upon
natural rights, or in any degree curtailing their enjoyment, is guilty of in-
justice and oppression — is warring upon humanity and upon God's con-
stitution for the government of the universe. The constitution by which
God governs tlie universe, being the supreme law, and paramount to all
other laws, any thing in the constitutions or laws of men, which is con-
trary thereto, is insulting to God, and inevitably tends to promote mise-
ry, degradation, and crime among men; and no man can have any right
to obey such criminal laws.
I Some of our opponents, probably through ignorance, have represen-
/ted it to be our intention forcibly to emancipate the slaves in the South-
ern States; we intend no such thing. We complain, that by the action
of the national Government, and also of the governments of many of
the non-Slaveholding States in support of Slavery, we are made partici-
pants in the crime of robbing men of their natural rights— we wish to ab-
solve ourselves from such crime.
By the voluntary act of Virginia and Maryland, in ceding to Congress
the District of Columbia, the institution of Slavery in that portion of
those States, standing as it did only on State authority, would have fal-
en to the ground, had not our Northern members of Congress, yielded
themselves as props for its continued support; and all we ask of them
in regard to Slavery in that district — in Florida, and on the high seas,
is, that they get out from under it, and let it fall of its own weight, as
it assuredly must, when the national government no longer stands its
god father and supporter.
In relation to Slavery in the Htatps, politically we claim no right to
interfere. So long as the people of the South may choose to hold a por-
tion of their children in bondage, and traffic in them as they do in brute
animals, they must do it; but we are not willing that men who plunder
their own children of their rights, should rule over our children; we
will not therefore support any Slaveholder for office in the government,
— besides, regarding Slavery as the most grievous wrong that was ever
inflicted by one man upon another, and as a palpable violation of the
laws of God; and knowing that its existence in our country, has a pow-
erful tendency to stifle every feeling of humanity — 'to annihilate every
principle of justice — to drive morality from our land, and to build up a
lordly aristocracy, which if unresisted would eventually establish itself
in power, to the entire subversion of the liberties of the nation, we can
but feel, that it is an object which should claim the untiring devotion of
every patriot or philanthropist, to promote the speedy and entire aboli-
tion of the system. We should therefore be criminal, were we to neg-
lect the use of all legitimate means for accomplishing this great ob- '
ject.
Slavery is a dark institution — it cannotstand before the light of truth ;•
this the Slaveholders well know, and enact laws prohibiting the educa
tion of the oppressed. We believe however, that although they may
kpep ihe iiiinds of their enslaved cliihirep, in a sUUc of nieatal and mo-
ral darkness and degradation, the system cannot stand before that full
blaze of intellectual and moral light, wliic-h is now being disseminated
among the free.
The abolition of Slavery in our country, will be but an incidental re-
sult of the establishment of our principles; the practical adoption of
which, in the administration of the government, is as necessary for the
security or owr rights, and the righisof owr posterity, as for the security
of the rights of the oppressed in the Southern States.
Such, fellow-citizens, are the principles, such the aim, of the Liberty
men in our country. Against these principles, and this aim, are arrayed
in unholy combination, the aristocratic enslavers of rnen, and through
their influence, the existing administrations of the jMational and State
Governments. These are sustained in their opposition. First, by the
drunken mobocrats, whose arguments consist of rotten eggs, tar, feath-
ers, and brick-bats. Secondly, by a majority of the Clergy and the
Church; these have 7zo arguments, but "stopping their ears against the
poor," — ("Whoso stoppeth his cars at the cry of the poor, he also shall
cry himself, but shall not he heard" — Proverbs, xxi: 13) and on secret-
ly circulating slanderous falsehoods against the prominent advocates of
ourcausell! Thirdly, and strange to tell, by a small party of Aboli-
litionists; they rely on either ignorant or intentional misrepresentations
of our principles, motives and measures.
If any class of the above named opposers, are honest in their opposi-
tion, v;e invite them to meet us in the field of reason, argument and
truth, and to debate with us the questions which divide us. We have in
our ranks many, in various parts of the country, who hold themselves in
readiness to discuss these questions, either orally or through the medium
of the press. We ask for open opponents — such as are not ashamed to
subscribe their names to their arguments that posterity may know that
in this age of the world, ihey stood forth in opposition to the holy cause
of liberty and human rights, ^s advocated by us. Let them show
to the world, if they can, that oor principles are unsound — that our
measures are unwise — that our f ictsare unreal, or that the object which
we eeek, is unworthy of the ef! 'rts which it will cost. If they can
successfully do this, then we mu it fall; but should they fail in the at-
tempt, or should the conviction th it we are right in all our propositions,
prevent them from making the attempt, then let them, if they choose,
continue as heretofore, to rely upon niobocracy and slander, and let the
intelligence and the moral sense of the world decide, on which side lies
the truth, and the best interests ot', mankind. Let every Patriot, every
Philanthropist, every well-wisher, to the happiness of our race, frown
indignantly upon all attempts to st^^e a discussion which has for its ob-
ject the regeneration of the publij' sentiroemof the world, and the ab-
rogation of aZZ the abuses which /keep the -^vass " • - nov
and tend to perpetuate among thJ'
Let all honest men, unite in prot
rights; and the spirit of despotisn
— man every where shall assume
native dignity, "redeemed, rege*-
in the assurance, that his postei
and enjoy the blesssing of RATIc
ERRATA.— Fifth page, third pa
er," read "lust of power."
146
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