{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_24194/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_24194","id":"gutenberg_24194","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24194","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: History - American","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Enslaved persons -- Emancipation -- United States","Slavery","Slavery -- United States","Slavery and the church"],"text":"Produced by Jeannie Howse, Bryan Ness and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This\nbook was produced from scanned images of public domain\nmaterial from the Google Print project.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n    +-----------------------------------------------------------+\n    | Transcriber's Note:                                       |\n    |                                                           |\n    | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For     |\n    | a complete list, please see the end of this document.     |\n    |                                                           |\n    +-----------------------------------------------------------+\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nNo Compromise with Slavery.\n\nAN ADDRESS\nDELIVERED\nIN THE\nBROADWAY TABERNACLE, NEW YORK,\nFEBRUARY 14, 1854,\nBY\nWILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON.\n\nNEW YORK:\nAMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY,\n142 NASSAU STREET,\n1854.\n\n\n\n\nADDRESS.\n\n\nLADIES AND GENTLEMEN: An earnest espousal of the Anti-Slavery cause\nfor a quarter of a century, under circumstances which have served in a\nspecial manner to identify my name and labours with it, will shield me\nfrom the charge of egotism, in assuming to be its exponent--at least\nfor myself--on this occasion. All that I can compress within the\nlimits of a single lecture, by way of its elucidation, it shall be my\naim to accomplish. I will make a clean breast of it. You shall know\nall that is in my heart pertaining to Slavery, its supporters, and\napologists.\n\nOf necessity, as well as of choice, I am a \"Garrisonian\"\nAbolitionist--the most unpopular appellation that any man can have\napplied to him, in the present state of public sentiment; yet, I am\nmore than confident, destined ultimately to be honourably regarded by\nthe wise and good. For though I have never assumed to be a\nleader--have never sought conspicuity of position, or notoriety of\nname--have desired to follow, if others, better qualified, would go\nbefore, and to be lost sight of in the throng of Liberty's adherents,\nas a drop is merged in the ocean; yet, as the appellation alluded to\nis applied, not with any reference to myself invidiously, but to\nexcite prejudice against the noblest movement of the age, in order\nthat the most frightful system of oppression ever devised by human\ningenuity and wickedness may be left to grow and expand to the latest\ngeneration--I accept it as the synonym of absolute trust in God, and\nutter disregard of \"that fear of man which bringeth a snare\"--and so\ndeem it alike honourable and praiseworthy.\n\nRepresenting, then, that phase of Abolitionism which is the most\ncontemned--to the suppression of which, the means and forces of the\nChurch and the State are most actively directed--I am here to defend\nit against all its assailants as the highest expediency, the soundest\nphilosophy, the noblest patriotism, the broadest philanthropy, and the\nbest religion extant. To denounce it as fanatical, disorganising,\nreckless of consequences, bitter and irreverent in spirit, infidel in\nheart, deaf alike to the suggestions of reason and the warnings of\nhistory, is to call good evil, and evil good; to put darkness for\nlight, and light for darkness; to insist that Barabbas is better than\nJesus; to cover with infamy the memories of patriarchs and prophets,\napostles and martyrs; and to inaugurate Satan as the God of the\nuniverse. If, like the sun, it is not wholly spotless, still, like the\nsun, without it there is no light. If murky clouds obscure its\nbrightness, still it shines in its strength. If, at a seems to wane to\nits final setting, it is only to reveal itself in the splendour of a\nnew ascension, unquenchable, glorious, sublime.\n\nLet me define my positions, and at the same time challenge any one to\nshow wherein they are untenable.\n\nI. I am a believer in that portion of the Declaration of American\nIndependence in which it is set forth, as among self-evident truths,\n\"that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their\nCreator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life,\nliberty, and the pursuit of happiness.\" Hence, I am an Abolitionist.\nHence, I cannot but regard oppression in every form--and most of all,\nthat which turns a man into a thing--with indignation and abhorrence.\nNot to cherish these feelings would be recreancy to principle. They\nwho desire me to be dumb on the subject of Slavery, unless I will open\nmy mouth in its defence, ask me to give the lie to my professions, to\ndegrade my manhood, and to stain my soul. I will not be a liar, a\npoltroon, or a hypocrite, to accommodate any party, to gratify any\nsect, to escape any odium or peril, to save any interest, to preserve\nany institution, or to promote any object. Convince me that one man\nmay rightfully make another man his slave, and I will no longer\nsubscribe to the Declaration of Independence. Convince me that liberty\nis not the inalienable birthright of every human being, of whatever\ncomplexion or clime, and I will give that instrument to the consuming\nfire. I do not know how to espouse freedom and slavery together. I do\nnot know how to worship God and Mammon at the same time. If other men\nchoose to go upon all-fours, I choose to stand erect, as God designed\nevery man to stand. If, practically falsifying its heaven-attested\nprinciples, this nation denounces me for refusing to imitate its\nexample, then, adhering all the more tenaciously to those principles,\nI will not cease to rebuke it for its guilty inconsistency.\nNumerically, the contest may be an unequal one, for the time being;\nbut the Author of liberty and the Source of justice, the adorable God,\nis more than multitudinous, and he will defend the right. My crime is,\nthat I will not go with the multitude to do evil. My singularity is,\nthat when I say that Freedom is of God, and Slavery is of the devil, I\nmean just what I say. My fanaticism is, that I insist on the American\npeople abolishing Slavery, or ceasing to prate of the rights of man.\nMy hardihood is, in measuring them by their own standard, and\nconvicting them out of their own mouths.\n\n    \"Woe to the rebellions children, saith the Lord, that take\n    counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but\n    not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin.\n\n    That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my\n    mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh,\n    and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!\n\n    Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the\n    enact in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.\n\n    Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a\n    book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:\n\n    That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children\n    that will not hear the law of the Lord.\n\n    Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy\n    not unto us right things; speak unto us smooth things;\n    prophesy deceits; get you out of the way, turn aside out of\n    the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before\n    us.\n\n    Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel: Because ye\n    despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness,\n    and stay thereon:\n\n    Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to\n    fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh\n    suddenly, at an instant.\"\n\nII. Notwithstanding the lessons taught us by Pilgrim Fathers and\nRevolutionary Sires, at Plymouth Rock, on Bunker Hill, at Lexington,\nConcord and Yorktown; notwithstanding our Fourth of July celebrations,\nand ostentatious displays of patriotism; in what European nation is\npersonal liberty hold in such contempt as in our own? Where are there\nsuch unbelievers in the natural equality and freedom of mankind? Our\nslaves outnumber the entire population of the country at the time of\nour revolutionary struggle. In vain do they clank their chains, and\nfill the air with their shrieks, and make their supplications for\nmercy. In vain are their sufferings portrayed, their wrongs rehearsed,\ntheir rights defended. As Nero fiddled while Rome was burning, so the\nslaveholding spirit of this nation rejoices, as one barrier of liberty\nafter another is destroyed, and fresh victims are multiplied for the\ncotton-field and the auction-block. For one impeachment of the slave\nsystem, a thousand defences are made. For one rebuke of the\nman-stealer, a thousand denunciations of the Abolitionists are heard.\nFor one press that bears a faithful testimony against Slavery, a score\nare ready to be prostituted to its service. For one pulpit that is not\n\"recreant to its trust,\" there are ten that openly defend slaveholding\nas compatible with Christianity, and scores that are dumb. For one\nchurch that excludes the human enslaver from its communion table,\nmultitudes extend to him the right hand of religious fellowship. The\nwealth, the enterprise, the literature, the politics, the religion of\nthe land, are all combined to give extension and perpetuity to the\nSlave Power. Everywhere to do homage to it, to avoid collision with\nit, to propitiate its favour, is deemed essential--nay, _is_ essential\nto political preferment and ecclesiastical advancement. Nothing is so\nunpopular as impartial liberty. The two great parties which absorb\nnearly the whole voting strength of the Republic are pledged to be\ndeaf, dumb and blind to whatever outrages the Slave Power may attempt\nto perpetrate. Cotton is in their ears--blinds are over their\neyes--padlocks are upon their lips. They are as clay in the hands of\nthe potter, and already moulded into vessels of dishonour, to be used\nfor the vilest purposes. The tremendous power of the Government is\nactively wielded to \"crush out\" the little Anti-Slavery life that\nremains in individual hearts, and to open new and boundless domains\nfor the expansion of the Slave system. No man known or suspected to be\nhostile to \"the Compromise Measures, including the Fugitive Slave\nLaw,\" is allowed to hope for any office under the present\nAdministration. The ship of State is labouring in the trough of the\nsea--her engine powerless, her bulwarks swept away, her masts gone,\nher lifeboats destroyed, her pumps choked, and the leak gaining\nrapidly upon her; and as wave after wave dashes over her, all that\nmight otherwise serve to keep her afloat is swallowed by the\nremorseless deep. God of heaven! if the ship is destined to go down\n\"full many a fathom deep,\" is every soul on board to perish? Ho! a\nsail! a sail! The weather-beaten, but staunch ship Abolition,\ncommanded by the Genius of Liberty, is bearing toward the wreck, with\nthe cheering motto, inscribed in legible capitals, \"WE WILL NOT\nFORSAKE YOU!\" Let us hope, even against hope, that rescue is not\nwholly impossible.\n\nTo drop what is figurative for the actual. I have expressed the belief\nthat, so lost to all self-respect and all ideas of justice have we\nbecome by the corrupting presence of Slavery, in no European nation is\npersonal liberty held at such discount, as a matter of principle, as\nin our own. See how clearly this is demonstrated. The reasons adduced\namong us in justification of slaveholding, and therefore against\npersonal liberty, are multitudinous. I will enumerate only a dozen of\nthese: 1. \"The victims are black.\" 2. \"The slaves belong to an\ninferior race.\" 3. \"Many of them have been fairly purchased.\" 4.\n\"Others have been honestly inherited.\" 5. \"Their emancipation would\nimpoverish their owners.\" 6. \"They are better off as slaves then they\nwould be as freemen.\" 7. \"They could not take care of themselves if\nset free.\" 8. \"Their simultaneous liberation would be attended with\ngreat danger.\" 9. \"Any interference in their behalf will excite the\nill-will of the South, and thus seriously affect Northern trade and\ncommerce.\" 10. \"The Union can be preserved only by letting Slavery\nalone, and that is of paramount importance.\" 11. \"Slavery is a lawful\nand constitutional system, and therefore not a crime.\" 12. \"Slavery is\nsanctioned by the Bible; the Bible is the word of God; therefore God\nsanctions Slavery, and the Abolitionists are wise above what is\nwritten.\"\n\nHere, then, are twelve reasons which are popularly urged in all parts\nof the country, as conclusive against the right of a man to himself.\nIf they are valid, in any instance, what becomes of the Declaration of\nIndependence? On what ground can the revolutionary war, can any\nstruggle for liberty, be justified? Nay, cannot all the despotisms of\nthe earth take shelter under them? If they are valid, then why is not\nthe jesuitical doctrine, that the end sanctifies them, and that it is\nright to do evil that good may come, morally sound? If they are valid,\nthen how does it appear that God is no respecter of persons? or how\ncan he say, \"All souls are mine\"? or what is to be done with Christ's\ninjunction, \"Call no man master\"? or with what justice can the same\nduties and the same obligations (such as are embodied in the Decalogue\nand the gospel of Christ) be exacted of chattels as of men? But they\nare not valid. They are the logic of Bedlam, the morality of the\npirate ship, the diabolism of the pit. They insult the common sense\nand shock the moral nature of mankind. Take them to Europe, and see\nwith what scorn they will be universally treated! Go, first, to\nEngland, and gravely propound them there; and the universal response\nwill proudly be, in the thrilling lines of Cowper,\n\n    \"Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs\n    Inhale our air, that moment they are free!\n    They touch our country, and their shackles fall!\"\n\nEvery Briton, indignant at the monstrous claim, will answer, in the\nemphatic words of Brougham: \"Tell me not of rights; talk not of the\nproperty of the planter in his slaves! I deny the right--I acknowledge\nnot the property! The principles, the feelings of our nature, rise in\nrebellion against it. Be the appeal made to the understanding or to\nthe heart, the sentence is the same that rejects it.\" And Curran, in\nwords of burning eloquence, shall reply: \"I speak in the spirit of the\nBritish law, which makes liberty commensurate with, and inseparable\nfrom, the British soil--which proclaims, even to the stranger and the\nsojourner, that the ground on which he treads is holy, and consecrated\nby the genius of universal emancipation. No matter in what language\nhis doom may have been pronounced; no matter what complexion an Indian\nor an African sun may have burnt upon him; no matter in what\ndisastrous battle his liberty may have been cloven down; no matter\nwith what solemnities he may have been offered upon the altar of\nSlavery; the first moment he touches the sacred soil of Britain, the\naltar and the god sink together in the dust--his spirit walks abroad\nin its own majesty--his body swells beyond the measure of his chains,\nand he stands redeemed, regenerated and disenthralled, by the\nirresistible genius of universal emancipation.\"\n\nAgain--take these slaveholding pleas to Scotland and from the graves\nof the dead and the homes of the living, they shall be replied to in\nthunder-tones in the language of Burns: \"A man's a man, for all that.\"\n\n    \"Who would be a traitor knave?\n    Who would fill a coward's grave?\n    Who so base as be a slave?\n      Let him turn and flee!\"\n\nPass over to Ireland, and there repeat those excuses for Slavery, and\neight million voices shall reply, in the words of Thomas Moore:\n\n    \"To think that man, thou just and loving God!\n    Should stand before thee with a tyrant's rod,\n    O'er creatures like himself, with souls from Thee,\n    Yet dare to boast of perfect liberty!\n    Away! away! I'd rather hold my neck\n    By doubtful tenure from a Sultan's beck,\n    In climes where liberty has scarce been nam'd,\n    Nor any right but that of ruling claim'd,\n    Than thus to live where boasted Freedom waves\n    Her fustian flag in mockery over slaves!\"\n\nAnd the testimony of O'Connell, in behalf of all Ireland, shall pass\nfrom mouth to mouth: \"I am an Abolitionist. I am for speedy, immediate\nAbolition. I care not what caste, creed or colour, Slavery may assume.\nWhether it be personal or political, mental or corporeal, intellectual\nor spiritual, I am for its instant, its total Abolition. I am for\njustice, in the name of humanity, and according to the law of the\nliving God.\" \"Let none of the slave-owners, dealers in human flesh,\ndare to set a foot upon our free soil!\" \"We are all children of the\nsame Creator, heirs of the same promise, purchased by the blood of the\nsame Redeemer--and what signifies of what caste colour or creed we may\nbe? It is our duty to proclaim that the cause of the negro is our\ncause, and that we will insist upon doing away, to the best of our\nhuman ability, the stain of Slavery, not only from every portion of\nthis mighty empire, but from the whole face of the earth.\" \"Let the\nAmerican Abolitionists be honoured in proportion as the slaveholders\nare execrated.\"\n\nPass over to the Continent, even into Papal-ridden Italy, and there\nurge the popular pleas in defence of slaveholding, and, from the\nVatican, Pope Gregory XVI. shall reply: \"We urgently invoke, in the\nname of God, all Christians, of whatever condition, that none\nhenceforth dare to subject to Slavery, unjustly persecute, or despoil\nof their goods, Indians, Negroes, or other classes of men, or to be\naccessories to others, or furnish them aid or assistance in so doing;\nand on no account henceforth to exercise that inhuman traffic, by\nwhich Negroes are reduced to Slavery, as if they were not men, but\nautomata or chattels, and are sold in defiance of all the laws of\njustice and humanity, and devoted to severe and intolerable labours.\"\n\nProceed to Austria, and there defend the practice of reducing men to\nSlavery, and the Austrian code shall proclaim: \"Every man, by right of\nnature, sanctioned by reason, must be considered a free person. Every\nslave becomes free from the moment he touches the Austrian soil, or an\nAustrian ship.\"\n\nFinally, enter the Tunisian dominions, and there urge the claim of\nproperty in man, and Musheer Ahmed Bashaw Bey shall reply: \"We declare\nthat all slaves that shall enter our kingdom, by land or by sea,\nshall be free; and further order, that every one born a slave in our\ndominions shall be considered as free from the very instant of his\nbirth, and that he shall neither be sold nor bought.\"\n\nThus do I prove that, in regard to personal liberty--the right of\nevery man to the ownership of his own body--even Italy, Austria and\nTunis are in advance of this boasted Republic, and put it to open\nshame!\n\nIII. The Abolitionism which I advocate is as absolute as the law of\nGod, and as unyielding as His throne. It admits of no compromise.\nEvery slave is a stolen man; every slaveholder is a man-stealer. By no\nprecedent, no example, no law, no compact, no purchase, no bequest, no\ninheritance, no combination of circumstances, is slaveholding right or\njustifiable. While a slave remains in his fetters, the land must have\nno rest. Whatever sanctions his doom must be pronounced accursed. The\nlaw that makes him a chattel is to be trampled under foot; the compact\nthat is formed at his expense, and cemented with his blood, is null\nand void; the church that consents to his enslavement is horribly\natheistical; the religion that receives to its communion the enslaver\nis the embodiment of all criminality. Such, at least, is the verdict\nof my own soul, on the supposition that I am to be the slave; that my\nwife is to be sold from me for the vilest purposes; that my children\nare to be torn from my arms, and disposed of to the highest bidder,\nlike sheep in the market. And who am I but a man? What right have I\nto be free, that another man cannot prove himself to possess by\nnature? Who or what are my wife and children, that they should not be\nherded with four-footed beasts, as well as others thus sacredly\nrelated? If I am white, and another is black, complexionally, what\nfollows?\n\n    \"Does, then, th' immortal principle within\n    Change with the casual colour of the skin?\n    Does matter govern spirit? or is mind\n    Degraded by the form to which 'tis joined?\"\n\nWhat if I am rich, and another is poor--strong, and he is\nweak--intelligent, and he is benighted--elevated, and he is depraved?\n\"Have we not one Father? Hath not one God created us?\"\n\n    \"How rich, how poor, how abject, how august,\n    How complicate, how wonderful is man!\n    Distinguished link in being's endless chain,\n    Midway from nothing to the Deity!\n    A beam ethereal, sullied and absorpt;\n    Though sullied and dishonoured, still divine!\"\n\nSuch is man, in every clime--above all compacts, greater than all\ninstitutions, sacred against every outrage, priceless, immortal!\n\nBy this sure test, every institution, every party, every form of\ngovernment, every kind of religion, is to be tried. God never made a\nhuman being either for destruction or degradation. It is plain,\ntherefore, that whatever cannot flourish except at the sacrifice of\nthat being, ought not to exist. Show me the party that can obtain\nsupremacy only by trampling upon human individuality and personal\nsovereignty, and you will thereby pronounce sentence of death upon it.\nShow me the government which can be maintained only by destroying the\nrights of a portion of the people; and you will indicate the duty of\nopenly revolting against it. Show me the religion which sanctions the\nownership of one man by another, and you will demonstrate it to be\npurely infernal in its origin and spirit.\n\nNo man is to be injured in his person, mind, or estate. He cannot be,\nwith benefit to any other man, or to any state of society. Whoever\nwould sacrifice him for any purpose is both morally and politically\ninsane. Every man is equivalent to every other man. Destroy the\nequivalent, and what is left? \"So God created man in his own\nimage--male and female created he them.\" This is a death-blow to all\nclaims of superiority, to all charges of inferiority, to all\nusurpation, to all oppressive dominion.\n\nBut all three declarations are truisms. Most certainly; and they are\nall that is stigmatized as \"Garrisonian Abolitionism.\" I have not, at\nany time, advanced an ultra sentiment, or made an extravagant demand.\nI have avoided fanaticism on the one hand, fully on the other. No man\ncan show that I have taken one step beyond the line of justice, or\nforgotten the welfare of the master in my anxiety to free the slave.\nWhy, citizens of the Empire State, did you proclaim liberty to all in\nbondage on your soil, in 1827, and forevermore? Certainly, not on the\nground of expediency, but of principle. Why do you make slaveholding\nunlawful among yourselves? Why is it not as easy to buy, breed,\ninherit, and make slaves in this State, compatible with benevolence,\njustice, and right, as it is in Carolina or Georgia? Why do you\ncompel the unmasked refugee from Van Dieman's Land to sigh for \"a\nplantation well stocked with healthy negroes in Alabama,\" and not\nallow him the right to own and flog slaves in your presence? If\nslaveholding is not wrong under all circumstances, why have you\ndecreed it to be so, within the limits of your State jurisdiction?\nNay, why do you have a judiciary, a legislative assembly, a civil\ncode, the ballot box, but to preserve your rights as one man? On what\nother ground, except that you are men, do you claim a right to\npersonal freedom, to the ties of kindred, to the means of improvement,\nto constant development, to labour when and for whom you choose, to\nmake your own contracts, to read and speak and print as you please, to\nremain at home or travel abroad, to exercise the elective franchise,\nto make your own rulers? What you demand for yourselves, in virtue of\nyour manhood, I demand for the enslaved at the South, on the same\nground. How is it that I am a madman, and you are perfectly rational?\nWherein is my ultraism apparent? If the slaves are not men; if they do\nnot possess human instincts, passions, faculties and powers; if they\nare below accountability, and devoid of reason; if for them there is\nno hope of immortality, no God, no heaven, no hell; if, in short, they\nare, what the Slave Code declares them to be, rightly \"deemed, sold,\ntaken, reputed and adjudged in law to be chattels personal in the\nhands of their owners and possessors, and their executors,\nadministrators and assigns, to all intents, constructions, and\npurposes whatsoever;\" then, undeniably, I am mad, and can no longer\ndiscriminate between a man and a beast. But, in that case, away with\nthe horrible incongruity of giving them oral instruction, of teaching\nthem the catechism, of recognising them as suitably qualified to be\nmembers of Christian churches, of extending to them the ordinance of\nbaptism, and admitting them to the communion table, and enumerating\nmany of them as belonging to the household of faith! Let them be no\nmore included in our religious sympathies or denominational statistics\nthan are the dogs in our streets, the swine in our pens, or the\nutensils in our dwellings. It is right to own, to buy, to sell, to\ninherit, to breed, and to control them, in the most absolute sense.\nAll constitutions and laws which forbid their possession ought to be\nso far modified or repealed as to concede the right.\n\nBut, if they are men; if they are to run the same career of\nimmortality with ourselves; if the same law of God is over them as\nover all others; if they have souls to be saved or lost; if Jesus\nincluded them among those for whom he laid down his life; if Christ is\nwithin many of them \"the hope of glory;\" then, when I claim for them\nall that we claim for ourselves, because we are created in the image\nof God, I am guilty of no extravagance, but am bound, by every\nprinciple of honour, by all the claims of human nature, by obedience\nto Almighty God, to \"remember them that are in bonds as bound with\nthem,\" and to demand their immediate and unconditional emancipation.\n\nI am \"ultra\" and \"fanatical,\" forsooth! In what direction, or\naffecting what parties? What have I urged should be done to the\nslaveholders? Their punishment as felons of the deepest dye? No. I\nhave simply enunciated in their ear the divine command, \"Loose the\nbands of wickedness, undo the heavy burdens, break every yoke, and let\nthe oppressed go free,\" accompanying it with the cheering promises,\n\"Then shall thy light rise obscurity, and thy darkness be as the\nnoon-day. And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy\nsoul in drought, and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a\nwatered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not. And\nthey that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou\nshalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be\ncalled, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell\nin.\" Yet, if I had affirmed that they ought to meet the doom of\npirates, I should have been no more personal, no more merciless, than\nis the law of Congress, making it a piratical act to enslave a native\nAfrican, under whatever pretence or circumstances; for in the eye of\nreason, and by the standard of eternal justice, it is as great a crime\nto enslave one born on our own soil, as on the coast of Africa; and\nas, in the latter case, neither the plea of having fairly purchased or\ninherited him, nor the pretence of seeking his temporal and eternal\ngood, by bringing him to a civilized and Christian country, would be\nregarded as of any weight, so, none of the excuses offered for\nslaveholding in this country are worthy of the least consideration.\nThe act, in both cases, is essentially the same--equally inhuman,\nimmoral, piratical. Oppression is not a matter of latitude or\nlongitude; here excusable, there to be execrated; here to elevate the\noppressor to the highest station, there to hang him by the neck till\nhe is dead; here compatible with Christianity, there to be branded and\npunished as piracy. \"He that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he\nbe found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.\" So reads the\nMosaic code, and by it every American Slaveholder is convicted of a\ncapital crime. By the Declaration of Independence, he is pronounced a\nman-stealer. As for myself, I have simply exposed his guilt, besought\nhim to repent, and to \"go and sin no more.\"\n\nWhat extravagant claim have I made in behalf of the slaves? Will it be\nreplied, \"Their immediate liberation!\" Then God, by his prophet, is\nguilty of extravagance! Then Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the\nDeclaration of Independence, and all who signed that instrument, and\nall who joined in the Revolutionary struggle, were deceivers in\nasserting it to be a self-evident truth, that all men are endowed by\ntheir Creator with an inalienable right to liberty! The issue is not\nwith me, but with them, and with God. What! is it going too far to\nask, for those who have been outraged and plundered all their lives\nlong, nothing but houseless, penniless, naked freedom! No compensation\nwhatever for their past unrequited toil; no redress for their\nmultitudinous wrongs; no settlement for sundered ties, bleeding\nbacks, countless lacerations, darkened intellects, ruined souls! The\ntruth is, complete justice has never been asked for the enslaved.\n\nHow has the slave system grown to its present enormous dimensions?\nThrough compromise. How is it to be exterminated? Only by an\nuncompromising spirit. This is to be carried out in all the relations\nof life--social, political, religious. Put not on the list of your\nfriends, nor allow admission to your domestic circle, the man who on\nprinciple defends Slavery, but treat him as a moral leper. \"If an\nAmerican addresses you,\" said Daniel O'Connell to his countrymen,\n\"find out at once if he be a slaveholder. He may have business with\nyou, and the less you do with him the better; but the moment that is\nover, turn from him as if he had the cholera or the plague--for there\nis a moral cholera and a political plague upon him. He belongs not to\nyour country or your clime--he is not within the pale of civilization\nor Christianity.\" On another occasion he said: \"An American gentleman\nwaited upon me this morning, and I asked him with some anxiety, 'What\npart of America do you come from?' 'I came from Boston.' Do me the\nhonour to shake hands; you came from a State that has never been\ntarnished with Slavery--a State to which our ancestors fled from the\ntyranny of England--and the worst of all tyrannies, the attempt to\ninterfere between man and his God--a tyranny that I have in principle\nhelped to put down in this country, and wish to put down in every\ncountry upon the face of the globe. It is odious and insolent to\ninterfere between a man and his God; to fetter with law the choice\nwhich the conscience makes of its mode of adoring the eternal and\nadorable God. I cannot talk of toleration, because it supposes that a\nboon has been given to a human being, in allowing him to have his\nconscience free. It was in that struggle, I said, that your fathers\nleft England; and I rejoice to see an American from Boston; but I\nshould be sorry to be contaminated by the touch of a man from those\nStates where Slavery is continued. 'Oh,' said he, 'you are alluding to\nSlavery though I am no advocate for it, yet, if you will allow me, I\nwill discuss that question with you.' I replied, that if a man should\npropose to me a discussion on the propriety of picking pockets, I\nwould turn him out of my study, for fear he should carry his theory\ninto practice. 'And meaning you no sort of offence; I added, 'which I\ncannot mean to a gentleman who does me the honour of paying me a civil\nvisit, I would as soon discuss the one question with you as the other.\nThe one is a paltry theft.\n\n    'He that steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;\n    'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands'--\n\nbut he who thinks he can vindicate the possession of one human being\nby another--the sale of soul and body--the separation of father and\nmother--the taking of the mother from the infant at her breast, and\nselling the one to one master, and the other to another--is a man whom\nI will not answer with words--nor with blows, for the time for the\nlatter has not yet come.'\"\n\nIf such a spirit of manly indignation and unbending integrity pervaded\nthe Northern breast, how long could Slavery stand before it? But where\nis it to be found? Alas! the man whose hands are red with blood is\nhonoured and caressed in proportion to the number of his victims;\nwhile \"he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.\" This is true,\nuniversally, in our land. Why should not the Slave Power make colossal\nstrides over the continent? \"There is no North.\" A sordid, truckling,\ncowardly, compromising spirit, is everywhere seen. No insult or\noutrage, no deed of impiety or blood, on the part of the South, can\nstartle us into resistance, or inspire us with self-respect. We see\nour free coloured citizens incarcerated in Southern prisons, or sold\non the auction-block, for no other crime than that of being found on\nSouthern soil; and we dare not call for redress. Our commerce with the\nSouth is bound with the shackles of the plantation--\"Free-Trade and\nSailors'-Rights\" are every day violated in Southern ports; and we\ntamely submit to it as the slave does to the lash. Our natural,\nGod-given right of free speech, though constitutionally recognised as\nsacred in every part of the country, can be exercised in the\nslaveholding States only at the peril of our lives. Slavery cannot\nbear one ray of light, or the slightest criticism. \"The character of\nSlavery,\" says Gov. Swain, of North Carolina, \"is not to be\ndiscussed\"--meaning at the South. But he goes beyond this, and adds,\n\"We have an indubitable right to demand of the Free States to suppress\nsuch discussion, totally and promptly.\" Gov. Tazewell, of Virginia,\nmakes the same declaration. Gov. Lumpkin, of Georgia, says: \"The\nweapons of reason and argument are insufficient to put down\ndiscussion; we can therefore hear no argument upon the subject, for\nour opinions are unalterably fixed.\" And he adds, that the Slave\nStates \"will provide for their own protection, and those who speak\nagainst Slavery will do well to keep out of their bounds, or they will\npunish them.\" The Charleston _Courier_ declares, \"The gallows and the\nstake (_i.e._ burning alive and hanging) await the Abolitionists who\nshall dare to appear in person among us.\" The Colombia _Telescope_\nsays: \"Let us declare through the public journals of our country, that\nthe question of Slavery is not and shall not be open to discussion;\nthat the system is too deep-rooted among us, and must remain forever;\nthat the very moment any private individual attempts to lecture us\nupon its evils and immorality, and the necessity of putting means in\noperation to secure us from them, in the same moment his tongue shall\nbe cut out and cast upon the dunghill.\" The Missouri _Argus_ says:\n\"Abolition editors in slave States will not dare to avow their\nopinions. It would be instant death to them.\" Finally, the New Orleans\n_True American_ says: \"We can assure those, one and all, who have\nembarked in the nefarious scheme of abolishing Slavery at the South,\nthat lashes will hereafter be spared the backs of their emissaries.\nLet them send out their men to Louisiana; they will never return to\ntell their suffering, but they shall expiate the crime of interfering\nin our domestic institutions, by being burned at the stake.\" And\nNorthern men cower at this, and consent to have their lips padlocked,\nand to be robbed of their constitutional right, aye, and their natural\nright, while travelling Southward; while the lordly slaveholder\ntraverses the length and breadth of the Free States, with open mouth\nand impious tongue, cursing freedom and its advocates with impunity,\nand choosing Plymouth Rock, and the celebration of the landing of the\nPilgrims upon it, as the place and the occasion specially fitting to\neulogize Slavery and the Fugitive Slave Bill!\n\n    \"Now, by our fathers' ashes! where's the spirit\n      Of the true-hearted and th' unshackled gone?\n    Sons of old freemen! do we but inherit\n            Their _names_ alone?\n\n    \"Is the old Pilgrim spirit quenched within us,\n      Stoops the proud manhood of our souls so low,\n    That Passion's wile or Party's lure can win us\n            To silence now?\"\n\nWhatever may be the guilt of the South, the North is still more\nresponsible for the existence, growth and extension of Slavery. In her\nhand has been the destiny of the Republic from the beginning. She\ncould have emancipated every slave, long ere this, had she been\nupright in heart and free in spirit. She has given respectability,\nsecurity, and the means of sustenance and attack to her deadliest foe.\nShe has educated the whole country, and particularly the Southern\nportion of it, secularly, theologically religiously; and the result\nis, three millions and a half of slaves, increasing at the appalling\nrate of one hundred thousand a year, three hundred a day, and one\nevery five minutes--the utter corruption of public sentiment, and\ngeneral skepticism as to the rights of man--the inauguration of Mammon\nin the place of the living God--the loss of all self-respect, all\nmanhood, all sense of shame, all regard for justice--the Book styled\nholy, and claimed to be divinely inspired, everywhere expounded and\nenforced in extenuation or defence of slaveholding, and against the\nAnti-Slavery movement--colour-phobia infecting the life-blood of the\npeople--political profligacy unparalleled--the religious and the\nsecular press generally hostile to Abolitionism as either infidel or\nanarchical in its spirit and purpose--the great mass of the churches\nwith as little vitality as a grave-yard--the pulpits, with rare\nexceptions, filled with men as careful to consult the popular will as\nthough there were no higher law--synods, presbyteries, general\nconferences, general assemblies, buttressing the slave power--the\nGovernment openly pro-slavery, and the National District the\nhead-quarters of slave speculators--fifteen Slave States--and now, the\nrepeal of the Missouri Compromise, and the consecration of five\nhundred thousand square miles of free territory forever to the service\nof the Slave Power!\n\nAnd what does all this demonstrate? That the sin of this nation is not\ngeographical--is not specially Southern--but deep-seated and\nuniversal. \"The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.\" We\nare \"full of wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores.\" It proves,\ntoo, the folly of all plasters and palliatives. Some men are still\ntalking of preventing the spread of the cancer, but leaving it just\nwhere it is. They admit that, constitutionally, it has now a right to\nravage two-thirds of the body politic--but they protest against its\nextension. This in moral quackery. Even some, whose zeal in the\nAnti-Slavery cause is fervent, are so infatuated as to propose no\nother remedy for Slavery but its non-extension. Give it no more room,\nthey say, and it may be safely left to its fate. Yes, but who shall\n\"bell the cat?\" Besides, with fifteen Slave States, and more than\nthree millions of Slaves, how can we make any moral issue with the\nSlave Power against its further extension? Why should there not be\ntwenty, thirty, fifty Slave States, as well as fifteen? Why should not\nthe star-spangled banner wave over ten, as well as over three millions\nof Slaves? Why should not Nebraska be cultivated by Slave labour, as\nwell as Florida or Texas? If men, under the American Constitution, may\nhold slaves at discretion and without dishonour in one-half of the\ncountry, why not in the whole of it? If it would be a damning sin for\nus to admit another Slave State into the Union, why is it not a\ndamning sin to permit a Slave State to remain in the Union? Would it\nnot be the acme of effrontery for a man, in amicable alliance with\nfifteen pickpockets, to profess scruples of conscience in regard to\nadmitting another pilfering rogue to the fraternity? \"Thou that\nsayest, A man should not steal, dost thou steal,\" or consent, in any\ninstance, to stealing? \"If the Lord be God, serve Him; but if Baal,\nthen serve him.\" The South may well laugh to scorn the affected moral\nsensibility of the North against the extension of her slave system. It\nis nothing, in the present relations of the States, but sentimental\nhypocrisy. It has no stamina--no back-bone. The argument for\nnon-extension is an argument for the dissolution of the Union. With a\nglow of moral indignation, I protest against the promise and the\npledge, by whomsoever made, that if the Slave Power will seek no more\nto lengthen its cords and strengthen its stakes, it may go unmolested\nend unchallenged, and survive as long as it can within its present\nlimits. I would as soon turn pirate on the high seas as to give my\nconsent to any such arrangement. I do not understand the moral code of\nthose who, screaming in agony at the thought of Nebraska becoming a\nSlave Territory, virtually say to the South: \"Only desist from your\npresent designs, and we will leave you to flog, and lacerate, and\nplunder, and destroy the millions of hapless wretches already within\nyour grasp. If you will no longer agitate the subject, we will not.\"\nThere is no sense, no principle, no force in such an issue. Not a\nsolitary slaveholder will I allow to enjoy repose on any other\ncondition than instantly ceasing to be one. Not a single slave will I\nleave in his chains, on any conditions, or under any circumstances. I\nwill not try to make as good a bargain for the Lord as the Devil will\nlet me, and plead the necessity of a compromise, and regret that I\ncannot do any better, and be thankful that I can do so much. The\nScriptural injunction is to be obeyed: \"Resist the devil, and he will\nflee from you.\" My motto is, \"No union with slaveholders, religiously\nor politically.\" Their motto is \"Slavery forever! No alliance with\nAbolitionists, either in Church or State!\" The issue is clear,\nexplicit, determinate. The parties understand each other, and are\ndrawn in battle array. They can never be reconciled--never walk\ntogether--never consent to a truce--never deal in honeyed\nphrases--never worship at the same altar--never acknowledge the same\nGod. Between them there is an impassable gulf. In manners, in morals,\nin philosophy, in religion, in ideas of justice, in notions of law, in\ntheories of government, in valuations or men, they are totally\ndissimilar.\n\nI would to God that we might be, what we have never been--a united\npeople; but God renders this possible only by \"proclaiming liberty\nthroughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof.\" By what\nmiracle can Freedom and Slavery be made amicably to strike hands? How\ncan they administer the same Government, or legislate for the same\ninterests? How can they receive the same baptism, be admitted to the\nsame communion-table, believe in the same Gospel, and obtain the same\nheavenly inheritance? \"I speak as unto wise men; judge ye.\" Certain\npropositions have long since been ceded to be plain, beyond\ncontradiction. The apostolic inquiry has been regarded as equally\nadmonitory and pertinent: \"What concord hath Christ with Belial? or\nwhat fellowship hath light with darkness?\" Fire and gunpowder, oil and\nwater, cannot coalesce; but, assuredly, these are not more\nantagonistical than are the elements of Freedom and Slavery. The\npresent American Union, therefore, is only one in form, not in\nreality. It is, and it always has been, the absolute supremacy of the\nSlave Power over the whole country--nothing more. What sectional\nheart-burnings or conflictive interests exist between the several Free\nStates? None. They are homogeneous, animated by the same spirit,\nharmonious in their action as the movement of the spheres. It is only\nwhen we come to the dividing line between the Free States and the\nSlave States that shoals, breakers and whirlpools beset the ship of\nState, and threaten to engulf or strand it. Then the storm rages loud\nand long, and the ocean of popular feeling is lashed into fury.\n\nWhile the present Union exists, I pronounce it hopeless to expect any\nrepose, or that any barrier can be effectually raised against the\nextension of Slavery. With two thousand million dollars' worth of\nproperty in human flesh in its hands, to be watched and wielded as one\nvast interest for all the South--with forces never divided, and\npurposes never conflictive--with a spurious, negro-hating religion\nuniversally diffused, and everywhere ready to shield it from\nharm--with a selfish, sordid, divided North, long since bereft of its\nmanhood, to cajole, bribe and intimidate--with its foot planted on\ntwo-thirds of our vast national domains, and there unquestioned,\nabsolute and bloody in its sway--with the terrible strength and\nboundless resources of the whole country at its command--it cannot be\notherwise than that the Slave Power will consummate its diabolical\npurposes to the uttermost. The Northwest Territory, Nebraska, Mexico,\nCuba, Hayti, the Sandwich Islands, and colonial possessions in the\ntropics--to seize and subjugate these to its accursed reign, and\nultimately to re-establish the foreign Slave Trade as a lawful\ncommerce, are among its settled designs. It is not a question of\nprobabilities, but of time. And whom will a just God hold responsible\nfor all these results? All who despise and persecute men on account of\ntheir complexion; all who endorse a slaveholding religion as genuine;\nall who give the right hand of Christian fellowship to men whose hands\nare stained with the blood of the slave; all who regard material\nprosperity as paramount to moral integrity, and the law of the land as\nabove the law of God; all who are either hostile or indifferent to the\nAnti-Slavery movement; and all who advocate the necessity of making\ncompromises with the Slave Power, in order that the Union may receive\nno detriment.\n\nIn itself, Slavery has no resources and no strength. Isolated and\nalone, it could not stand an hour; and, therefore, further aggression\nand conquest would be impossible.\n\nSays the Editor of the Marysville (Tenn.) _Intelligencer_, in an\narticle on the character and condition of the slave population:\n\n    \"We of the South are emphatically surrounded by dangerous\n    class of beings--degraded, stupid savages--who, if they could\n    but once entertain the idea that immediate and unconditional\n    death would not be their portion, would re-enact the St.\n    Domingo tragedy. But the consciousness, with all their\n    stupidity, that a ten-fold force, superior in discipline, if\n    not in barbarity, would gather from the four corners of the\n    United States and slaughter them, keeps them in subjection.\n    _But, to the non-slaveholding States, particularly, we are\n    indebted for a permanent safeguard against insurrection._\n    Without their assistance, the while population of the South\n    would be too weak to quiet that insane desire for liberty\n    which is ever ready to act itself out with every rational\n    creature.\"\n\nIn the debate in Congress on the resolution to censure John Quincy\nAdams, for presenting a petition for the dissolution of the Union, Mr.\nUnderwood, of Kentucky, said:\n\n    \"They (the South) were the weaker portion, were in the\n    minority. _The North could do what they pleased with them_;\n    they could adopt their own measures. All he asked was, that\n    they would let the South know what those measures were. One\n    thing he knew well; that State, which he in part represented,\n    had perhaps a deeper interest in this subject than any other,\n    except Maryland and a small portion of Virginia. And why?\n    Because he knew that to dissolve the Union, and separate the\n    different States composing the confederacy, making the Ohio\n    River and the Mason and Dixon's line the boundary line, _he\n    knew as soon as that was done, Slavery was done_ in Kentucky,\n    Maryland and a large portion of Virginia, and it would extend\n    to all the States South of this line. _The dissolution of the\n    Union was the dissolution of Slavery._ It has been the common\n    practice for Southern men to get up on this floor, and say,\n    'Touch this subject, and we will dissolve this Union as a\n    remedy.' _Their remedy was the destruction of the thing which\n    they wished to save_, and any sensible man could see it. If\n    the Union was dissolved into two parts, the slave would cross\n    the line, and then turn round and curse the master from the\n    other shore.\"\n\nThe declaration of Mr. Underwood as to the entire dependence of the\nslave masters on the citizens of the nominally Free States to guard\ntheir plantations, and secure them against desertion, is substantially\nconfirmed by Thomas D. Arnold, of Tennessee, who, in a speech on the\nname subject, assures us that they are equally dependent on the North\nfor _personal protection_ against their slaves. In assigning his\nreasons for adhering to the Union, Mr. Arnold makes use of the\nfollowing language:\n\n    \"The Free States had a majority of 44 in that House. Under the\n    new census, they would have 53. The cause of the slaveholding\n    States was getting weaker and weaker, and what were they to\n    do? He would ask his Southern friends what the South had to\n    rely on, if the Union were dissolved? Suppose the dissolution\n    could be peaceably effected (if that did not involve a\n    contradiction in terms), what had the South to depend upon?\n    _All the crowned heads were against her. A million of slaves\n    were ready to rise and strike for freedom at the first tap of\n    the drum._ If they were cut loose from their friends at the\n    North (friends that ought to be, and without them, the South\n    had no friends), _whither were they to look for protection_?\n    How were they to sustain an assault from England or France,\n    with the cancer at their vitals? The more the South reflected,\n    the more clearly she must see that she has a deep and vital\n    interest in maintaining the Union.\"\n\nThese witnesses can neither be impeached nor ruled out of Court, and\ntheir testimony is true. While, therefore, the Union is preserved, I\nsee no end to the extension or perpetuity of Chattel Slavery--no hope\nfor peaceful deliverance of the millions who are clanking their chains\non our blood-red soil. Yet I know that God reigns, and that the slave\nsystem contains within itself the elements of destruction. But how\nlong it is to curse the earth, and desecrate his image, he alone\nforesees. It is frightful to think of the capacity of a nation like\nthis to commit sin, before the measure of its iniquities be filled,\nand the exterminating judgments of God overtake it. For what is left\nus but \"a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation\"? Or\nis God but a phantom, and the Eternal Law but a figment of the\nimagination? Has an everlasting divorce been effected between cause\nand effect, and is it an absurd doctrine that, as a nation sows, so\nshall it also reap? \"Wherefore, hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful\nmen that rule this people: Because ye have said, We have made a\ncovenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the\noverflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for\nwe have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid\nourselves: Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Judgment will I lay to\nthe line, and righteousness to the plummet; and the hail shall sweep\naway the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the\nhiding-place: And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your\nagreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge\nshall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.\"\n\nThese are solemn times. It is not a struggle for national salvation;\nfor the nation, as such, seems doomed beyond recovery. The reason why\nthe South rules, and North falls prostrate in servile terror, is\nsimply this: With the South, the preservation of Slavery is paramount\nto all other considerations--above party success, denominational\nunity, pecuniary interest, legal integrity, and constitutional\nobligation. With the North, the preservation of the Union is placed\nabove all other things--above honour, justice, freedom, integrity of\nsoul, the Decalogue and the Golden Rule--the Infinite God himself. All\nthese she is ready to discard for the Union. Her devotion to it is the\nlatest and the most terrible form of idolatry. She has given to the\nSlave Power a _carte blanche_, to be filled as it may dictate--and if,\nat any time, she grows restive under the yoke, and shrinks back aghast\nat the new atrocity contemplated, it is only necessary for that Power\nto crack the whip of Disunion over her head, as it has done again and\nagain, and she will cower and obey like a plantation slave--for has\nshe not sworn that she will sacrifice everything in heaven and on\nearth, rather than the Union?\n\nWhat then is to be done? Friends of the slave, the question is not\nwhether by our efforts we can abolish Slavery, speedily or\nremotely--for duty is ours, the result is with God; but whether we\nwill go with the multitude to do evil, sell our birthright for a mess\nof pottage, cease to cry aloud and spare not, and remain in Babylon\nwhen the command of God is, \"Come out of her, my people, that ye be\nnot partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.\"\nLet us stand in our lot, \"and having done all, to stand.\" At least, a\nremnant shall be saved. Living or dying, defeated or victorious, be it\nours to exclaim, \"No compromise with Slavery! Liberty for each, for\nall, forever! Man above all institutions! The supremacy of God over\nthe whole earth!\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n    +-----------------------------------------------------------+\n    | Typographical errors corrected in text:                   |\n    |                                                           |\n    | Page  7: Eurpean replaced with European                   |\n    | Page  9: justication replaced with justification          |\n    | Page 26: appaling replaced with appalling                 |\n    |                                                           |\n    | On page 16 there is a partially blocked word in the       |\n    | scanned image. From the context it is very likely that    |\n    | the word is 'demand':                                     |\n    |                                                           |\n    |  \"I have not, at any time, advanced an ultra sentiment,   |\n    |  or made an extravagant ----nd. I have avoided            |\n    |  fanaticism on the one hand, fully on the other.\"         |\n    |                                                           |\n    +-----------------------------------------------------------+\n\n       *       *       *       *       *","title":"No Compromise with Slavery: An Address Delivered to the Broadway Tabernacle, New York","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":9241}