great mass of men, in all countries, their strength or labor is their whole fortune. To seize on this would be to rob them of their all. In truth, no robbery is so great as that to which the slave is habitually subjected. To take by force a man's whole estate, the fruit of years of toil, would by universal consent be denounced as a great wrong; but what is this, compared with seizing the man himself, and appropriating to our use the limbs, faculties, strength and labor, by which all property is won and held fast? The right of property in outward things is as nothing, compared with our right to ourselves. Were the slaveholder stript of his fortune, he would count the violence slight, compared with what he would suffer, were his person seized and devoted as a chattel to another's use. Let it not be said that the slave receives an equivalent, that he is fed and clothed, and is not, therefore, robbed. Suppose another to wrest from us a valued possession, and to pay us his own price, should we not think ourselves robbed? Would not the laws pronounce the invader a robber? Is it consistent with the right of property, that a man should determine the equivalent for what he takes from his neighbor? Especially is it to be hoped, that the equivalent due to the laborer will be scrupulously weighed, when he himself is held as property, and all his earnings are declared to be his master's? So great an infraction of human right is slavery! "In reply to these remarks, it may be said that the theory and practice of slavery differ; that the rights of the slave are not as wantonly sported with as the claims of the master might lead us to infer; that some of his possessions are sacred; that not a few slaveholders refuse to divorce husband and wife, to sever parent and child; and that in many cases the power of punishment is used so reluctantly, as to encourage insolence and insubordination. All this I have no disposition to deny. Indeed it must be so. It is not in human nature to wink wholly out of sight the rights of a fellow-creature. Degrade him as we may, we cannot altogether forget his claims. In every slave-country, there are, undoubtedly, masters who desire and purpose to respect these, to the full extent which the nature of the relation will allow. Still, human rights are denied. They lie wholly at another's mercy; and we must have studied history in vain, if we need be told that they will be continually the prey of this absolute power." [For the Record.] IS SLAVEHOLDING SIN? If we can only settle this question, it will be easy to settle every other question in respect to slavery and emancipation. If the practice be sin, then its abandonment should be immediate and not gradual. God never authorizes a present continuance in sin, under the plea of future reformation. "Now is the accepted time" to abandon transgression. "To-day" and not to-morrow is God's time for all men to cease to do evil. If slaveholding be sin, then it is the duty of all men to bear testimony against it, and no fears of "excitement" or "danger" can excuse the neglect of this duty. If slaveholding be sin, then it should be eradicated from the churches, and nothing can justify Christians and ministers of the Gospel, if they do not show the house of Jacob their sin, and "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness." The question then returns, is SLAVEHOLDING SIN ? The decision of this question may be suspended on the decision of two other questions, viz. 1. Is oppression sin? 2. Is slaveholding oppression? The first of these questions is easily settled. The Bible condemns al oppression; and so does the common judgment of all men. The second question need puzzle no man. If any man doubts whether slaveholding be oppression, let him tell us, what form or kind of oppression on earth he would not sooner suffer than become a slave. W. G. [For the Record.] "RUNNING AFTER." SHORT DIALOGUE: A fact.-Scene, a village in Rhode Islana. "Friend Perez, I hope thee has done running after these crazy abolitionists." "Yea, verily, Friend I trust I have: for I have caught up with them, and find myself getting rather ahead of some of them." THE SLAVE'S ADDRESS TO AMERICAN LADIES. Daughters of the good and brave, Hear the injured negro's story, Hear, and help the kneeling slave. Think how nought but death can sever -Still alive-but lost for ever Ours are parted, bought and sold! Seize, then, ev'ry favoring season— JUSTICE, TRUTH, RELIGION, REASON, Are your LEADERS in our cause! Follow! faithful, firm, confiding,— Spread our wrongs from shore to shore; Mercy's God your efforts guiding, SLAVERY SHALL BE KNOWN NO MORE. In the name of two millions two hundred and fifty thousand slaves, we Deseech every one of our kind countrywomen, to imprint these beautiful ines-and, more true than beautiful-upon the tablet of her heart. ED. REC, SINGULAR DISCUSSION. One of our agents writes from Connecticut, "I attended a singular discussion this afternoon-no other than this-Whether the blacks shall be buried in the new burying-ground as other people are, or off one side, by themselves!!! The vote went against the negro-haters. This was in a Parish meeting." BARARITY. To show that the system of slavery is connected with abominable ateities, of which the half has never yet been told, we mention a fact lately communicated by a gentleman from a slave State. A slaveholder living in the State of Delaware, some years since, informed a friend that the overseer of his plantation in Louisiana, worked the hands so hard that one of the women was delivered of a child whilst at the hoe! And this slaveholder was a Senator of the United States!! RECEIPTS. Receipts into the Treasury of the American A. S. So- | Monthly Collections received by the Publishing Agent ciety from Nov. 16th to Dec. 14th 1835. Andover, Mass., A. S. Society, C. J. Torrey, per S. J. May, 30 00 Pawtucket, R. I., Female A. S. Society, per Cynthia Hill, 15 00 from Nov. 1 to Dec. 1, 1835. 5.00 4.00 i 50 275 Vermont A. S. Society, per R. T. Robiuson, 10000 Catskill, N. Y., Robert Jackson, 150 00 Farmington, N. Y., by W. R. Smith, 600 50 Hamilton College A. S. Society, by J. R. Dixon, 500 Hudson, O., by S. Matthew, 500 Palmyra, N. Y., O. Clapp, 200 New Rochelle, N. Y., J. Carpenter, 200 Poughkeepsie, N. Y., A lady, by L. Tappan, 10 00 Oneida Institute, 200 Pompey, N. Y., Rev. J. Gridley, 300 Putnam and Zanesville O., by H. C. Howells, 10 00 Pleasant Ville, N. Y., Miss A. Pierce, 2.50 Rochester, N. Y. by W. W. Reid, 22 19 Philadelphia, Pa., Rev. H. Barber, 500 Rome, N. Y., by Dr. A. Blair, 15 00 Aurora, Ohio, Mrs. H. Seward, 100 Syracuse, N. Y., S. Conklin, 300 Geneva, Ashtabula Co. Ohio, A. S. Society, 500 Ware, Mass., A. B. Huntington, 100 Tallmadge, Ohio, Dr. P. Wright, 500 Mrs. C. Wright, Received for Books, Pamphlets, &c., 215 85 158 25 Whitlock, Brown Co. Ohio, Presbyterian collection, per R. Rutherford, JOHN RANKIN, Treasurer "Human Rights, "Quarterly Magazine, 56 19 83.50 FUNDS.-The friends of the Anti-Slavery cause are probably aware, that a very large proportion of the funds, necessary to carry on the operations of the American Anti-Slavery Society, have been derived from the liberality of abolitionists in New-York, and that for a month past, the pledges of our country friends having been redeemed more tardily than was expected, the treasury has been overdrawn. If to this we add, that the AWFUL CONFLAGRATION of the 16th of December has swept away the wealth of the city to an incalculable amount, we need say no more to stimulate all those who mean to stand by the cause of truth and freedom, whether pledged or not, to send in immediately what they can. Remittances should be made by mail, if no more convenient and prompt opportunity offers, to Mr. JOHN RANKIN, No. 8 Cedar Street, New-York. HISTORY OF THE SLAVE, JAMES. An authentic narrative, communicated by a Lady. An elderly lady on the eastern shore of Maryland held many slaves. She treated them with great mildness; manumitted several of the most worthy; and it was generally understood she intended to emancipate them all at her death. Among those who received their freedom, was a bright mulatto woman, named Harriet. She was quite a favorite with the family, being a good seamstress, and occasionally the children's nurse; particularly of the grandson of her mistress, named Tench Tilghman. When this young man arrived at manhood, his father being dead, he took the management of the estates. By virtue of his power as general agent, he sold several of his grandmother's slaves; a proceeding which was understood to be contrary to her wishes. Among those sold, were three children of Harriet, his foster-mother! These children, two girls and a boy, were small. The boy after wards married the slave of another widow Tilghman, who lived about twenty miles from the residence of his mistress. His mother, Harriet, and her husband, Perry Coward, moved to Philadelphia; but Harriet was under the cruel necessity of leaving her children in slavery. Some years ago, James and his wife made their escape, and took up their residence in the neighborhood of Kimberton, about twenty-eight miles from Philadelphia. By some means, Margaret, another child of Harriet's, escaped from slavery, and came to live with her brother James. Harriet and her husband, Perry Coward, likewise removed from the city and took up their abode under the same roof. James and his wife were sober, industrious, and extremely attached to each other. They soon gained the confidence of the neighbors, and were enabled to make a very comfortable living. But in an evil hour, Tench Tilghman,* by means of spies, discovered their retreat. The quietude of the family was first disturbed by the appearance of suspicious-looking men, who came among them, under the pretence of inquiring for a horse that had been lost. Something in their looks, or actions, alarmed James's wife, and she expressed a wish to change their residence. But she was then very near her confinement, and as no farther indications of danger appeared, they remained as they were. One night, when her babe was only eight days old, Tench Tilghman went with several assistants, and seized James, his sister Margaret, and his little son. They would have taken his wife also, but her feeble state of health made it difficult to carry her. Thinking they could trust her strong attachment to her husband, they extorted a promise that she would follow him as soon as she was able. Poor Harriet in vain entreated her foster-son to have mercy on her children. Finding her entreaties useless, she, in a moment of desperation, took up a stick and struck him. "What do you think my grandmother would say, to hear that you struck me!" exclaimed he. "What would my good old mistress say, if she could see you tearing away my children ?" replied Harriet. Then uncovering her bosom, she said, in tones that one would have thought might have softened the hardest heart,-"I suckled you at this breast, and now you drag my children away from me, to send them into slavery !" Poor James made some resistance, in hopes of escape; but they beat him in such a manner, that marks of blood were all about the door-steps. The agonized wife, ill as she was, sprang out of bed, and ran barefooted into the snow, to implore mercy for her husband. Some * Tench had probably re-purchased the right to James.-ED. |