ore Fl^-' A DISCOURSE O N ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO PHILEMON; EXHIBITING THE DUTY OF CITIZENS OP THE NORTHERN STATES IN REGARD TO THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY; DELIVERED IN CHRIST CHURCH, HARTFORD: DEC. 2 2, 1850; BY N. S.* WHEATON, D. D. HARTFORD: PRESS OF CASE, TIFFANY AND COMPANY 1851. / A DISCOURSE tL!L ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO PHILEMON; 4 *** EXHIBITING THE DUTY OF CITIZENS OF THE NORTHERN STATES IN REGARD TO THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY; DELIVERED IN CHRIST CHURCH, HARTFORD: DEC. 2 2, 1 S 5 ; %1 ' BY N. S. WHEATON, D. D. 6 ° ^HARTFORD: PRESS OF CASE, TIFFANY AND COMPANY 1851. £ TO THE REV. N. S. WHEATON, D. D. Reverend and Dear Sir : We, who were among the gratified listeners to the very able and timely discourse, delivered by you at Christ Church on Sunday evening last, believing in the inestimable value of the Union, and keenly alive to the dangers which now threaten it, do most earnestly request that you will furnish us with a copy of the discourse for publication. We are confident that such a plain and powerful appeal to the Christian community, and such masterly arguments in favor of sustaining the law, must go far towards enlightening the understanding of superficial thinkers, as well as confirming the views and strengthening the actions of all real lovers of the Union ; and, in our judgment, ought, at this crisis, to be given the largest publicity. Such appeals from the Northern pulpit cannot but exert a happy influence in subduing and meliorating the unfraternal feelings wjiich pervade a portion of the Southern community, as well as cause the prevalence of a more Christian Spirit and thoughtful action on the part of some at the North. There are among us, always, numbers of heedless persons, who will join a popular cry, or follow the delusive lead of a disorganizer ; who would pursue the better course, if sound argument and fair reasoning were placed within their reach. For the enlightenment of such, as well as for the benefit of all, we trust that you will allow your admirable discourse to be given to the public. PHILLIP RIPLEY, C. H. NORTHAM, H. HUNTINGTON, CYPRIAN NICHOLS, ZEPHANIAH PRESTON. Hartford, Dec. 24, 1850. Gentlemen : I place the following discourse at your disposal, principally in the hope that it may tend, in some degree, to strengthen the hands of those amongst us who prefer law and order to faction and disunion ; and to convey to any of our brethren at the South into whose hands it may fall, who are laboring in the same good cause, a pledge of our hearty concurrence, and of our determi- nation to abide strictly by the constitution and laws of our coun- try. I do this the more readily, as 1 see at the head of the sig- natures to your letter the name of the respected Mayor of this city, who presided at the first union meeting (Oct. 12, 1850,) held in the United States after the passage of the compromise measures of Congress. The principles here advocated are the same, I believe, as those embodied in the Resolutions of that meeting ; at all events, they are the principles which I have held and maintained without any misgivings ever since I thought I understood the subject. As you have been pleased to express the opinion that the pub- lication may be of some service at the present time, I am willing to overlook the circumstance that the discourse is but the sequel to another previously delivered at the same place, on the duty of "submission to every ordinance of man ;" and consequently, not embracing the whole subject. That it was prepared in the usual course of parochial duty, and with no view to publication, will not be pleaded in palliation of any doctrines or opinions contained in it. For these I have no apology to offer, for none I conceive are needed. With great regard, I am gentlemen, Your ob't servant, N. S. WHEATON. Hon. Phillip Ripley, and others. Hartford, Dec. 27, 1850. DISCOURSE. ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO PHILEMON. Among the books of the New Testament, there is a short letter, written entirely on a private sub- ject, and having no reference to the proof or eluci- dation of any doctrinal truth ; which yet has held its place in the Sacred Canon unquestioned from any quarter, and been always understood as de- signed by the Holy Ghost for the general edifica- tion of the Church. From the nature of the sub- ject of which it treats, it attracts little attention from the general reader. Yet, since it exhibits an example how a christian Apostle behaved under certain peculiar circumstances, which circumstances have become our own in every essential particular, we naturally recur to it for instruction. There is this advantage in an example over a precept : the example, or instance, interprets the precept, and solves whatever there may be doubtful in it, if there be reasonable ground for doubt. When we see the rule actually applied in a particular case ; when we 6 see a man like St. Paul, acting under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, doing in his own person precise- ly that which is in accordance with his public teaching; we have a practical illustration of his meaning ; and we know and feel that we are doing right when, under parallel circumstances, we act as he did. One might almost suppose that the provi- dence of God had anticipated the very crisis in which this country is now placed, and had caused this comparatively unheeded letter to be written as a guide to Christian consciences now. Philemon was a citizen of Colosse in Asia Minor, and evidently a man of wealth and consideration in his own city. — But that, of which it principally concerns us now to speak, is the esteem in which he was held by such a man as St. Paul. He had been converted by that Apostle to the Christian faith ; he is commended for his " love and faith to- wards the Lord Jesus, and towards all saints" ; St. Paul calls him " our dearly beloved, and fellow- labourer," whom he " always mentioned in his prayers," and in whose " love he had great joy and consolation," because, says he, " the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother." We may look in vain through all the Epistles for a similar instance of tender friendship and personal esteem for a man in the private walks of life. Many such are indeed mentioned with distinguished honour; but no one of them has been handed down to us so richly embalmed — so consecrated by the dear affec- tion of " the chiefest of the Apostles," as Philemon of Colosse. Philemon was a slave-holder. One of his slaves, Onesimus, escaped from his bonds, and found his way to Rome, where St. Paul then was, an honourable prisoner within lim- its, but allowed to exercise the ministry. There, Onesimus hears the Apostle preach, and is convert- ed to the faith of Christ. He seeks an interview with the Apostle, whom he had probably known at the house of his master in former days ; confesses to him that he is a fugitive, and solicits his counsel. A case is now presented, in which all the circum- stances concur to bring to a decision, and before a competent tribunal, the rights and duties of all con- cerned. This decision Ave have in the following passage, in the letter of St. Paul to Philemon : — " I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds ; which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me : whom I have sent again : Thou there- fore receive him, that is mine own bowels : Whom I would have retained with me that, in thy stead, he miffht have ministered unto me in the bonds of 8 the gospel. But without thij mind would I do nothing." The essential facts brought to our notice in this epistle, so far as they concern our present purpose, are these : Oue of the best and most exemplary of Christian men, and the bosom friend of an Apostle, is a slave- holder : The slave escapes from his master, and finds his way to a far distant city, where he is safe from all pursuit : He is there met by an Apostle, and by him con- verted to Christianity — shown the wrong he has done his master, and sent back to him, with a let- ter of commendation and friendly entreaty, which has ever been considered a master-piece in its kind. On the transactions thus briefly narrated, we mav remark ; that nowhere in the epistle is there a word of censure, expressed or implied, of Phile- mon, for being the owner of slaves. There is no appeal to his conscience as a Christian ; none what- ever to any higher law than the law of the country which gave him a property in Onesimus. That right remained unimpaired, even after Onesimus became a Christian; and the Apostle, so far from impugning it, recognizes it in all its force* and acts accordingly. Another reflection, so obvious indeed as scarcely to demand a particular notice, is this ; that had St. Paul perceived any thing morally wrong in the re- lation of master and slave, he could not, and would not, have done what he did — remit to a state of domestic servitude one who, already escaped from it, had acquired a new title to freedom by his adop- tion into the Christian family, if his former bonds were unjust. Another circumstance to be remembered is, that Onesimus himself was satisfied with the whole pro- cedure ; since he acquiesced in it, and, by the direction of the Apostle, returned to his master. And, what makes the case a still stronger one, the slave was of the same complexion, and probably of the same race, with his owner ; and, what is still more, all the parties were Christians. On a candid review of all these circumstances, I know not how an unprejudiced mind can evade the conclusion, that the holding of men to involun- tary service is not, under all circumstances, incon- sistent with Christianity ; or, in other words, that slavery has not been prohibited by the word of God. Let us now see whether the Apostle's teaching in reference to the same subject was in accordance with his practice in the case of Onesimus. Allow me to make one preliminary remark, which must be borne in mind in order to compre- hend the force of the passages I am about to ad- 10 duce from the New Testament. Wherever the word servant is used by the Apostles in speaking of, or to, a particular class of persons, the persons indicated are slaves, in the common meaning of the term ; and were as much the property of their masters, as are the descendants of the African in any of the southern states. This will not be ques- tioned by any one conversant with ancient history; nor that the power of the Roman slave holder over his bondsman was far more absolute than any thing known in this land. Keeping this fact in view, then, that the servants so often mentioned by the Apostles were slaves ; let us see what sort of pre- cepts they delivered to this class of persons, in their discourses on the relative duties of mankind. If there should be any thing here which grates on the ear of modern philanthropists, the blame must be laid on those, whom Christ sent forth into the world to instruct men in the duties which pertain to their several stations. They alone are respon- sible for such precepts as the following. — St. Paul to the Ephesians. — " Servants, be obe- dient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as unto Christ Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether lie he bond or freer 11 St. Paul to the Colossians. — " Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh ; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers ; but in single- ness of heart, fearing God." St. Paul to Titus, a Christian Pastor and Bish- op. — " Exhort servants to be obedient to their own masters, and to please them well in all things." St. Peter, in his General Epistle. — " Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear ; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward." St. Paul, again, in his Epistle to Timothy, anoth- er Pastor and Bishop. — " Let as many servants as are under the yoke, count their own masters worthy of all honour ; that the name of God and his doc- trine be not blasphemed. And they that have be- lieving masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren ; but rather do them service. . . . . These things teach and exhort. If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to whole- some words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness ; he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about ques- tions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth From such, withdraw thyself." I will not affirm that St. Paul had in his view a notorious class of persons in New England, in the 12 middle of the nineteenth century, when he wrote this ; but I may say that, had he lived to see and hear what we have been compelled to see and hear, his delineations of character could not have been more graphic and life-like. What now is the import of all these emphatic and reiterated injunctions, imposed on such as were in bonds and under the yoke ? How do they comport with the zeal of our pseudo-philan- thropists to break, at every hazard, the bond which unites the servant to his master ? Is not the relation here recognized in its fullest extent, and made the ground work of a particular class of duties ? Is not obedience in the slave, according to the apostolic standard, made a duty as sacred as any other duty, social or moral ? And are not they who teach otherwise, — who would defraud the master by enticing away the bondsman, or detain- ing him, — characterized by condemnatory epithets which it would be thought scarcely courteous to utter now ; epithets, piled one on another with rhetorical profusion, as if the culpability of their conduct could not be made to stand out in too strong relief? Are they, indeed, to be identi- fied with the men-steakrs, of whom the Apostle speaks elsewhere ? We have now, I think, arrived at the true reasons on which a Christian man, who honestly 13 desires to do his duty, is expected as a matter of conscience to acquiesce in the law, which demands that the fugitive from service shall, on legal requi- sition, be returned. That he should he so re- turned, I need not say, is the law of the land, and has been ever since the adoption of the Constitu- tion under which we live. That it is not contrary to the law of God is too evident to need further proof. If, then, these facts be incontrovertable, the most scrupulous conscience need not be dis- turbed by the demand of a cheerful acquiescence in the law which reclaims the fugitive slave ; — a law, which demands no more than St. Paul thought it his duty to do in a parallel case. When I call the cases parallel, I must, however, make an exception in regard to a single point; but that exception places our duty, if possible, in a still clearer light. When he restored the fugitive, Onesimus, he acted, so far as we are informed, under no constraint of civil law ; the contrary is implied by the expression — " whom I would have retained with me" : he was not obliged to do it, as is the case with us, by any positive enactment of the powers that were. He only obeyed what he understood to be the law of Christ, and the law of justice towards a Christian brother. Let those who, in their erratic cruise on the ocean of human- ity, think they have made new and important dis- 14 coveries, impeach him if they please of a derelic- tion of high moral duties. The task shall not be mine. It is enough for me that, in obeying a particular law under which I live, I am not only subjecting myself to a " power ordained of God ;" but doing precisely what I have an example of in the action of the great Apostle to the Gentiles, while under no such constraint as that imposed on me as a citizen of these United States. Let me now briefly retrace the course of argu- ment by which we have arrived at this conclusion ; for it is one in regard to which it is desirable at this particular time that every one should be satisfied. The consideration which met us in the outset* was, the universal requirement of Christ's law, to submit ourselves without reserve to the law under which we live, " for wrath's sake, for conscience' sake, and for the Lord's sake." The next consideration was that, in thus submit- ting ourselves, in this particular instance of restor- ing a fugitive ; — not in baffling the officers of the SO 7 law, and aiding in the escape of the slave ; but in honestly sending him back to his legal owner; we just do what no less a man than St. Paul, a chosen messenger of the Lord, and the interpreter of the mind of Christ, did in a similar case ; only that he Referring to a former discourse. 15 was not constrained as we are by any positive law of man. Then, referring to the teaching of this Apostle and his coadjutors, we find them recognizing with- out reserve, qualification or censure, the relation of master and slave ; and giving a variety of instruc- tions to the latter 'in regard to the duties of his peculiar situation. On all these accounts, and bearing in mind the conduct of St. Paul in the case of Onesimus, so perfectly in conformity with his precepts and those of his fellow Apostles ; we are obliged to conclude that when, under similar circumstances, we act as he did, and allow ourselves to be governed by the same law of duty which ruled him, we may be sure that Ave are acting right. In this conclusion I am content to rest, till I have the light of a new revelation to show me what I ought to do. If any objection be urged on the score of hu- manity, and the supposed hardship of a return to a state of bondage ; if our sympathies are engaged in behalf of any who, having escaped from their bonds, have been long dwelling amongst us; how very simple and obvious is the remedy! We have, in that case, only to purchase the liberty of the slave, and leave him in the quiet enjoyment of his home. A few thousand dollars would redeem all who are likely ever to be reclaimed in 16 New England ; and probably not a master at the south would hesitate to accept the arrangement. But let the law first have its course, without hin- drance or obstruction from any quarter ; and when the fugitive shall have been found and identified, he will soon learn whether the real friends of his race are not to be found among the strenuous supporters of law. To this course I dp not see what possible objection can be urged by the most scrupulous mind, however unsatisfactory it may be to the factious and turbulent.* In what I have said thus far, I have simply endeavoured to present to you the law of Christi- anity in regard to slavery, as it appears to my own mind. I have spoken to you as Christians, solicit- ous to know your duty, or what may be your duty, at a very delicate and important crisis ; and trust that every ground of reasonable doubt has been removed. But there are other considerations, besides the mere obligations of law, which I wish to submit before I leave the subject ; and to these I now ask vour attention. * The above remark? are designed to apply principally to the case of such fugitives as have been long resident at the north, and have families here. These, the owners would probably be willing to surrender on reasonable terms. An indiscriminate offer to redeem all fugitives would not only be a misplaced generosity, but would actually hold out an induce- ment to desertion. 17 If any amongst us have been taught to think hardly of our brethren at the south for retaining the institution of slavery, it is proper to remind such that it was not of their procuring in the first instance. I cannot but remember that it was forced upon them in their then condition of colo- nies, by the mother country, in the days of her moral darkness, when neither she nor any one else supposed there was any thing wrong or even questionable in the slave trade. It does not • become us to forget, that the capital and the navi- gation of New England — " the ships of Chittim," the navigating people — were largely if not princi- pally engaged in transporting slaves from the bar- racoons of western Africa to the shores of Virginia and the Carolinas ; against the earnest protest, too, of both colonies. And when I remember all this, and consider how, in consequence, this domestic servitude has become so incorporated with the whole texture of southern institutions and society ; how they have so grown up together and are so intermingled, that by no possibility can slavery be suddenly torn out, without the most deplorable consequences both to the master and the servant ; I think I see reason enough for a very kindly forbearance on our part ; I recognize even a stern demand of justice, irrespective of all written laws, that we religiously abstain from 18 every thing like contumely and reproach, as well as from an officious intermeddling with what is now altogether their concern, and none of ours. And I go still further, and say, in view of the part taken by the north in former times, in stocking the sugar and cotton-fields of the south with their sable cultivators, that whoever are entitled to cast the first stone, we are not that people. It seems indeed incredible that any amongst us should feel themselves at liberty to indulge in the language of vituperation, so long as we insist on praising our ■ puritanical forefathers for every virtue under heav- en, and continue to build the tombs of the proph- ets and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, through whose active agency the slave-trade was carried on, and all the consequences incurred of which many are now disposed to complain. Slavery having thus been imposed on our breth- ren at the south, not unwillingly we are at liberty to suppose so far as a portion of them were con- cerned, and become an integral part of their social existence ; they cannot suddenly abolish it if they would. But whether they shall or shall not abolish it at all, is no business of ours. It was rightly said on a late occasion by one of our most eloquent orators, while commenting on a remark of the foremost of our statesmen, that we had less to do with the slavery of the southern states than 19 with that of Cuba. The latter we may discuss as we please, and publish what we please in regard to it ; while the former is guarded against our approach by the very spirit and intent of our polit- ical compact. We cannot assail it without giving just ground of offence. Many seem to forget this; and talk as if we were under a moral obliga- tion, — some undiscovered, unintelligible higher law, to wipe out this foul blot, as they are pleased to call it, from our national character. Why, since the day when our navigators discharged their living cargoes at the wharves of the southern states, it has never for one instant been under our controul, in any manner or shape whatever. And whether it be a good or a bad institution, a bles- sing or a curse to the land where it prevails, is not our concern. It can no more become a practical question with the people of New England, than is the question of serfdom in Russia or Poland. It is less so, for the reason I have just alluded to ; and a good and sufficient reason it is why we should let it alone. When the people of the southern colonies as they then were, or lately had been, were about to unite with those at the north, in a mutual confede- ration for commercial and other purposes, they were as independent of us as we were of them. They had their local laws and institutions as 20 we had ; and they had a right to require, as they did, that one of the conditions of the com- pact should be, that they should continue to man- age their domestic affairs in their own way with- out any interference from us, just as we were to manage ours without any interference from them. It was one of the mutual stipulations that persons held to service in one state, escaping into another, should on requisition he given up. That Avas a part of the compact, and a very important one to those states which were encum- bered with a numerous population of this charac- ter ; and they had a right to say that, unless that condition were made a part of the compact, the negociation should not go on. They did not ask the north to sanction slavery, nor to pronounce any opinion in regard to it : — no such thing : all that they demanded was, that slavery should be recognized as a fact, an existence, a thing that was, subject to no controul but their own ; and moreover, that fugitives from labour should be restored — a thing of no sort of consequence to us, but of the greatest possible consequence to them. To these conditions we assented, and very properly : the federation could not have been consummated on any other terms. And now, if Ave deliberately violate those conditions; or, through a culpable negligence, permit them to 21 be violated ; if we allow a noisy faction, whatever their motives may be, so far to prevail as to set the laws at defiance, and in any way to render the recovery of a fugitive impossible, whether by connivance, or sham-legal proceedings, or by open resistance, or by exhortations to resistance ; then, what follows ? Why, the compact is broken by us : we refuse to fulfill its stipulations ; and the aggrieved states may if they choose, at any mo- ment, declare the confederacy dissolved. When their rights in this matter, as agreed upon and confirmed in the Constitution, the great instru- ment of union, shall be denied them, or cannot any longer be enforced ; the bond is broken, and they are cast loose from all obligation to observe it. The act of separation in that case is ours, not theirs ; the crime of disunion lies at our door, and not with them. All this seems plain enough. Let me present the case in another point of view. Wherever the two races subsist together in the same community, in any thing like equal numbers, experience has shown it to be best that the rela- tion of master and bondsman should prevail. Whatever may be the evils, moral and social, grow- ing out of such a relation ; — and I shall neither deny nor extenuate them ; it is certain that much more aggravated ones, though of a different de- scription, would follow the sundering of the tie ; 22 evils, which would fall more heavily on the eman- cipated slave than on his former master. I speak now of the actual relative position of the two races in the southern states ; and on the supposition that they are to continue to inhabit the same land. But it would be foreign to my purpose to pursue this idea further. For my own part, after the maturest considera- tion I could give to the very difficult problem, how slavery in the United States is to be ultimately dis- posed of; I am unable to separate the idea of col- onization from emancipation on an extended scale. Dwell together as equals the two races never can, at least in this country. Wherever the sons of Ham and the sons of Japheth have been brought into juxtaposition, the original law of servitude in some of its forms has universally prevailed : "a ser- vant of servants shall he be unto his brethren." I do not so much understand this in the light of a com- mand that it should be so, as of a prophecy that it would be so. So it ever has been ; so it is at the present moment, even in the place where I now stand ; for you know there is and can be no equality here. All attempts hitherto to force the two races into an equal social position have only served to ex- hibit the amiable folly of their authors. The re- pugnance remains, unconquered and unconquerable; and the inferior race must, by a law which we can- 23 not controul, remain under some kind of subordi- nation to the higher intellect of the Anglo Saxon, till it shall please God to lift up the curse, pro- nounced four thousand and five hundred years ago. How this will be brought to pass is not yet alto- gether manifest ; but the dawnings of God's provi- dence in regard to the African are not perhaps undistinguishable at the present moment. They may, I think, be discerned, in the opening of a door for the return and re-gathering of this long servile race in the land where their brethren are now clustered. As Joseph's brethren, when they sold him into Egypt, meant it for evil, and God meant it for good ; so may blessings incalculable yet spring from an act, evil in itself — the carrying away of the African, to sojourn for a time in a state of bondage. That time has not been lost to him. Compare the moral condition of the southern slave with that of his almost brute brother in the forests of Western Africa ; worshipping the Devil, and propitiating his wrath with human sacrifices and rites obscene ; administering the poison-water; warring eternally, and wallowing without shame or restraint in the grossest sensuality ; and say if his bondage, hard as bondage may seem to us, has not been to him a blessing ? Beyond all doubt, he has been unspeakably elevated in the scale of being, humble as his position may still be. He has gained 24 the knowledge which would never have dawned on his dark mind in his native land. He has been made to know the God who made him, and the Saviour who bought him, and all those precious truths of the gospel which, more than any others, tend to improve and ennoble man's nature : his bondage then has not been to him altogether a curse. Very far from it. And now that he has been in some degree prepared for usefulness in the hands of another master, shall we not say to him, and to all his brethren dwelling in the land of their captivity, — " as fast as the way is prepared and the door is opened, return to your yet benighted breth- ren in the country of your forefathers, and impart to them the blessings you have received: bear to them the tidings of the everlasting gospel ; acquaint them with the arts of civilization you have learned ; open the wilderness to cultivation; let churches arise, and let schools be established ; let the native African see with his own eyes, and bear witness to, the superiority of Christian and civilized over brute savage life. Be the founders there of a new empire ; build cities on every harbor and inlet along the coast; and know that when you are achieving these things, you are doing what none else can do for the millions there. You are reduc- ing them to a state of civilized humanity ; and you will also be doing what I fear can never be done 25 by treaties, and protocols, and squadrons of armed cruisers — you will be putting an end forever to the African slave-trade." Such, I trust, will yet be the mission of the descendant of the African in this country. It has been begun already. The colony at Liberia, the nucleus of a future African empire, was prospering under the fostering care of the best of our great men, both at the north and the south, when it en- countered a deadly and relentless foe in those, who now claim to be exclusively the friends of the African. Their friendship has been fatal in every way ; and will be, till the objects of their benevo- lence are torn from their embrace. But though their perverse labors have impeded for a time, they have not been able to arrest, an enterprise, which I have ever regarded as comprising more of en- lightened, and comprehensive, and far-reaching benevolence, than any other which this age has brought forth. When the present agitation, so aimless,, and fruitless of every thing but evil, shall have died away, we may suppose that the desire of the African exile will be more distinctly and finally turned towards a home already prepared to receive him, and where he can stand erect as a man, con- scious of no superior by his side. When the pres- ent advantages, and fair promise and hope of the colony at Liberia shall have been spread before 4 26 him ; and the dream of an equality here with the white man, whispered in his ear by his unreal friends, shall have been dissipated ; we may trust that he will himself feel an ardent desire to return to that which is properly his country and his home, and to share in the toil and glory of adding another to the civilized nations of the earth. Then will commence a spontaneous emigration of the race to the coast of Africa, such as is poured in upon us now from the shores of Europe. Every ship which parts from our shores, laden with our manufactures for the use of the colonists, to be exchanged for the rich products of the eastern tropics, will be made vocal, — not with the groans of miserable captives manacled in the filthy hold, but with the songs and gratulations of captives made free at last, and going to bestow upon their brethren the liberty where- with Christ has made them free. Nor will the fundsof the nation be withheld from the enterprise. Then will there be, what there has never yet been, an open door, and effectual, to the emancipation of the southern slave. The great hindrance, in the estimation of those who ought to know best, will be removed ; the dread, namely, of a constantly ac- cumulating population among them unfit for freedom, as they always must be while they continue there. I cannot regret the discussion which is now go- in°- on in these northern states. It has been forced 27 upon us by the recent outbreaks against law ; and it is time that we should all understand our duties as Christians, as citizens, as members of this great confederacy. I am glad that a crisis has been reached, when we must determine whether we will any longer invite or tolerate an agitation, so utterly senseless and pernicious as that which for years past has disturbed the peace of the Union, and now threatens its very existence. If we are henceforth to live in harmony with our brethren at the south, we must forego our absurd abstractions, and learn to deal justly, and follow after the things which make for peace. And never again should any fac- tious man amongst us be allowed, with impunity, to reproach them, in a style so popular with the vulgar, for perpetuating an institution for which, at present, there is no remedy ; or sting and irritate them with sarcasms, as mean and ungenerous as they are unjust. And let us learn also to put more faith in time and progress, to bring about results which appear to us desirable. In regard to slavery and its concomitants, one truth at least must by this time have become ap- parent to every dispassionate mind. No desirable change can be wrought by violence : by denuncia- tion; by witholding from any citizen the rights secured to him by law ; by any resistance, secret or open, to the execution of law. What must be 28 the effect of such resistance or evasion ? It is bad in every way, and to all concerned in it ; and who amongst us is not concerned in upholding the su- premacy of Law ? It is peculiarly afflictive to the race it professes to benefit, because their bondage is necessarily made more stringent and oppressive when it is seen that, in the event of their escape, there is no hope of recovery.. And then, in the aggrieved party, there is left rankling a sense of wrong's unredressed — of intolerable insult — of a broken covenant ; all tending to excite and foster a wish to separate forever from, and cease from all intercourse with, a people, who cannot or will not be held to any compact however sacred. And in that case we could not blame them. It would be the sentiment of every honorable and generous heart, in tendering to them the right hand of friend- ship and fellowship, when parting words were said ; — Would to God we might still dwell together in unity as we once did ; but it cannot be : mad- ness and faction are in the ascendant, and rule the hour : we have nothing to accuse you of; God's law and man's law are with you, but separate we must. We succumb to the master-spirits amongst us who have had revelations of a higher law. Go, and the blessing of heaven go with you. And then — what then ? America, lately the ad- miration, the pride, the hope of the great and good 29 in every clime, become the scoff and jeer of the world ; all faith in the ability of republics to fulfill the ends of government extinguished forever; our Union gone ; our strength, our peace, our glory, departed like a gorgeous but transient vision ; and henceforward our tale will be told in the wars and fightings which make up the burthen of vulgar history. In none of the political agitations through which our country has hitherto passed, have I ever feared for the stability of the Union ; for none of them sprung from interests or passions purely sectional, like that by which we are now convulsed. But at length, the very crisis which the anxious mind of Washington foresaw, — which he dreaded more than any other, and which he strove to avert by solemn and repeated warnings, is in imminent danger of being brought upon us by a few factious, aspiring men, who avail themselves of the honest blunders of weak and ill-directed consciences to compass their own selfish ends. Yet this dangerous point will be safely turned, if we will but do our duty with a faithful and resolute heart. The battle for the Union must be fought, not on the cotton fields of the south, but here on the soil of New England. The enemy in this case is the band of disunionists at home. Let law and order triumph here, and the immediate danger will have passed. Let those 30 who love the constitution and laws of our country stand by them, and plead for them, and act for them, and uphold them ; and it may yet be well with us for many years to come. That our confederacy can long, very long, stand the tug and strain to which it is likely to be sub- jected in the growing impatience of law, it would perhaps be too sanguine to expect. It may be wanting in some of the essential elements of dura- bility. But let us make it last as long as we can, for the incalculable good it brings ; and avert to the latest hour possible the great calamity. When- ever it comes, it will come too soon. Let us not hasten it by any want of faithfulness on our part to the conditions of the compact ; nor, by weakly yielding to the clamors of a few " men of perverse minds, and destitute of the truth," allow this fair heritage to be given up a prey to the unimagin- able miseries of disunion, anarchy and civil war, the end of which no human mind can foresee. 10