ited States, in a
preceding chapter, it is stated that one principal cause, operating to
check the further liberation of the slaves, at an early day in our
history, was, that freedom had proved itself of little value to the
colored man, while the measure had greatly increased the burdens of the
whites; and that until he should make such progress as would prove that
freedom was the best condition for the race, while intermingled with the
whites, any further movements toward general emancipation were not to be
expected. This view is now indorsed by some of the most prominent
abolitionists. Listen to the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher on this subject. In
his sermon in reference to the Harper's Ferry affair, he says:

"If we would benefit the African at the South, we must _begin at home_.
This is to some men the most disagreeable part of the doctrine of
emancipation. It is very easy to labor for the emancipation of beings a
thousand miles off; but when it comes to the practical application of
justice and humanity to those about us, it is not so easy. The truths of
God respecting the rights and dignities of men, are just as important to
free colored men, as to enslaved colored men. It may seem strange for me
to say that the lever with which to lift the load of Georgia is in New
York; but it is. I do not believe the whole free North can tolerate
grinding injustice toward the poor, and inhumanity toward the laboring
classes, without exerting an influence unfavorable to justice and
humanity in the South. No one can fail to see the inconsistency between
our treatment of those among us, who are in the lower walks of life, and
our professions of sympathy for the Southern slaves. How are the free
colored people treated at the North? They are almost without education,
with but little sympathy for their ignorance. They are refused the
common rights of citizenship which the whites enjoy. They can not even
ride in the cars of our city rail roads. They are snuffed at in the
house of God, or tolerated with ill-disguised disgust. Can the black man
be a mason in New York? Let him be employed as a journeyman, and every
Irish lover of liberty that carries the hod or trowel, would leave at
once, or compel him to leave! Can the black man be a carpenter? There is
scarcely a carpenter's shop in New York in which a journeyman would
continue to work, if a black man was employed in it. Can the black man
engage in the common industries of life? There is sca