evating them; and finally, with
France and England, turned them loose by emancipation, and ignored the
word of God in justification of the deed, by declaring that to hold them
in slavery was sinful. The result is, that the portion they held of this
degraded race, is immersed in poverty, wretchedness and crime, without a
parallel in civilized communities, and are less in number now, than the
original importations from Africa, (so says the Superintendent of the
census;) while the portion held by us is in high comfort, regularly
improving in morals and intellect, and multiplying more rapidly than the
white race at the North. It does seem, from the facts of the census,
that this (so-called) philanthropy has been a curse to _both races, at
the North, and in the West Indies_, and that it is displeasing in the
sight of God. The census exhibits unmistakable evidence that, without a
change, the emancipated portion of the race, _in these localities_, will
ultimately perish, and that this catastrophe is to be hastened by
poverty and criminal degradation. The census shows that those who are
_responsible_ for this deed are subjected _in our country_, by annual
_births_ and _deaths_, to a _decrease_ of sixty per cent., and to a much
_heavier per cent._ than this, _of poverty and crime_.
But while these are the results to both races at the North, prosperity,
unequaled in the annals of the world, has attended us (as the census
shows) in almost every thing we have put our hands to, both for this
life and that which is to come. The _satisfaction_ is ours, also, of
_knowing_ that these degraded outcasts, which were thrown upon our
hands, have not only been _cared for_, but _elevated in the scale of
being_, and brought to share largely in the blessings of intellectual,
social, and religious culture.
But for their _enslaved condition_ here, they would have remained until
this hour in their _original degradation_.
_In view of all the facts compared_, I would ask all who feel interested
in the great question now agitating our country, to let these facts be
their guide and counselor in deciding the issue. Are the people of the
North warranted from these facts, in believing they would honor God and
benefit men by overthrowing the institution of slavery, if they could.
These facts testify plainly, that where African slavery has existed in
our country for more than two hundred years, the social and religious
condition of men has improved m
|