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would gladly give all the slaves of a universe to buy off the punishment that oppression brings down upon the soul. It may be difficult to do our duty, but it will be far more difficult to stand in the judgment without having done it.

Brethren, we have done. The hour is coming in which the slave and his master must stand together before the tribunal of God, a God who judges righteously. Are you prepared to place yourselves before Him who will decide upon your eternal destiny, and say that you have done justice to those whom you now hold in bondage? Are you prepared to say, "As I have done unto these, so let it be done unto me; as I have showed mercy, so let me receive mercy at the hands of my Judge." Anticipate, we beseech you, the feelings and decision of that great day which is fast hastening on; try yourselves now, as God will then try you. "What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" Are you "doing justly" while you retain your fellow-men in hopeless boudage? Are you "loving mercy" while you are supporting a system that degrades and brutalizes beings whom God created in His own image? These are solemn questions. Let reason answer them, and let conscience decide your future course.

JOHN C. YOUNG, Secretary.

JOHN BROWN, Chairman.

The foregoing paper calls for no comment. It speaks for itself; it is from men of the highest character; and they describe the system of slavery as it existed under their own observation.

MOVEMENT FOR EMANCIPATION IN 1849.

The next step of public importance which we note, revealing the sentiments of the people of Kentucky, occurred in 1849. The Legislature submitted to the people the question of calling a Convention to revise the State Constitution, and the people decided affirmatively. The subject of slavery was a main topic of consideration in the canvass for the Convention. Many citizens, embracing many of the largest slaveholders, were in favor of providing in the new or revised Constitution for the removal

PRINCIPLES OF THE STATE CONVENTION.

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"For months previous to

of the system from the State. the election of members of the Convention to frame a new Constitution, the press teemed with arguments and appeals, public lecturers and orators travelled over the State to address the people, and county and State Conventions were held to embody and express the sentiments of the contending parties."*

A meeting was held in Lexington, on the 14th of April, 1849, which is thus spoken of:

The object of the meeting having been explained, in a few eloquent remarks by the Hon. Henry Clay and Rev. R. J. Breckinridge, on motion of the latter gentleman, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted:

1st. That this meeting, composed of citizens of the county of Fayette, met in pursuance of public notice, to consider the question of the perpetuation of slavery in this Commonwealth, considering that hereditary slavery, as it exists among us, (1) Is contrary to the natural rights of mankind; (2) Is opposed to the fundamental principles of free government; (3) Is inconsistent with a state of sound morality; (4) Is hostile to the prosperity of the Commonwealth; we are therefore of the opinion that it ought not to be made perpetual, &c.

The second resolution recommended the holding of a State Convention at Frankfort, on the 25th of April, to consider the subject of emancipation, and appointed thirty delegates. At this Convention, held on the day above named, "the Rev. Dr. R. J. Breckinridge submitted a document, which, after being amended with his concurrence, was adopted."

PRINCIPLES OF THE STATE CONVENTION.

We merely give the preamble, and the first and main point of the paper, as all that is essential to our purpose,

*The facts stated concerning this movement for Emancipation in Kentucky in 1849, we take mainly from an article in the Biblical Repertory, for October of that year, founded on an Address of Dr. R. J. Breckinridge, entitled "The Question of Negro Slavery, and the New Constitution of Kentucky." This Address is before us.

showing the judgment of the State Convention upon the character of the system which they sought to remove. This portion of the document is as follows:

This Convention, composed of citizens of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and representing the opinions and wishes of a large number of our fellow-citizens throughout the Commonwealth, met in the capitol on the 25th of April, 1849, to consider what course it becomes those who are opposed to the increase and to the perpetuity of slavery in this State to pursue in the approaching canvass for members of the Convention, called to amend the Constitution, adopts the propositions which follow, as expressing its judgment in the premises:

1. Believing that involuntary hereditary slavery, as it exists by law in this State, is injurious to the prosperity of the Commonwealth, inconsistent with the fundamental principles of free government, contrary to the natural rights of mankind, and injurious to a pure state of morals, we are of opinion that it ought not to be increased, and that it ought not to be perpetuated in this Commonwealth.

The other propositions of the paper, three in number, relate to matters of detail respecting the mode recommended to the Constitutional Convention for the ultimate and entire removal of slavery from the State. This paper is signed officially by "Henry Clay, of Bourbon, President," and by several Vice-Presidents and Secretaries.

EMANCIPATIONISTS DEFEATED. CAUSES.

Dr. R. J. Breckinridge was an Emancipation candidate for the State Constitutional Convention, but was defeated; and it is said, that "not more than one or two emancipationists, if any, according to the public papers," were "elected." When, therefore, the Convention assembled, instead of providing for emancipation, they placed barriers in its way far greater than existed before; making a course of measures of some six or seven years duration necessary to reach the practical point in any system of emancipation, immediate or gradual, through constitutional and legislative

PRESBYTERIANS FOR EMANCIPATION.

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forms. We have often heard it said in Kentucky, that while the largest slaveholders were in favor of emancipation at that time, the non-slaveholding vote of the State gave the Convention the proslavery character it possessed.*

The Repertory thus speaks of the failure of the emancipation cause, and of the agencies employed in its behalf:

men.

It may be difficult for those out of the State to discern all the causes of this lamentable defeat. There are, however, some things connected with the subject patent to every observer. In the first place, the failure of the cause of emancipation is not to be referred to any want of ability on the part of its advocates. Those advocates comprise some of the most distinguished men not only of Kentucky, but of the Union; men who have no superiors in the power to control public sentiment. If the cause of freedom could have been carried, it must have been carried by such If any appeals could produce conviction, it would have been produced by the address mentioned at the head of this article. Selfinterest, ignorance, and prejudice, are proof against any thing; but the human mind, when unbiassed, and sufficiently enlightened to comprehend their import, cannot resist such arguments, nor harden itself against such sentiments as are here presented. It must be conceded, then, that the cause of emancipation in Kentucky has failed for the present, in spite of the exertions of men of the highest order of talents of which the country can boast.

PRESBYTERIANS UNANIMOUSLY FOR EMANCIPATION.

Again, some seem disposed to refer this failure to the lukewarmness of the Churches in Kentucky. We are not prepared to speak on this subject for other Churches, but surely this reproach cannot fairly be brought against our own Church. The Presbyterians have taken the lead in this struggle. There is not a prominent man in the Synod of Kentucky, who has not been conspicuous for his zeal and efforts in behalf of emancipation. No names in connection with this subject are more

The Repertory says on this point: "The impression seems very general that the emancipationists have been defeated by the slaveholders. This is a great mistake. A large and most influential class of the slaveholders are themselves emancipationists." "The fact, therefore, that the non-slaveholders in Kentucky have voted against emancipation, is not to be attributed to the influence of the slave-owners."

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prominent than those of Drs. R. J. Breckinridge, John C. Young, William L. Breckinridge, and of the Rev. Mr. Robinson, of Frankfort. As far as we know, there is not a single Presbyterian minister whose name is found among the advocates of slavery.

We give these extracts because they state the case better than we can do, and because we wish the facts to go forth with greater weight than our individual authority could impart to them. They were written and published soon after the events occurred, and we are not aware that they have ever been called in question. The material facts which bear upon our immediate purpose are: that in 1849, "Presbyterians" took "the lead" in Kentucky for emancipation; that there was then "not a prominent man in the Synod" who was "not conspicuous for his zeal in behalf of emancipation;" that among the distinguished "names" than which none were "more prominent," is here given "the Rev. Mr. Robinson, of Frankfort;" and that there was, at that time, "not a single Presbyterian minister" in the Synod of Kentucky, "whose name was found among the advocates of slavery."

DRS. HUMPHREY AND W. L. BRECKINRIDGE UPON EMANCIPATION IN 1849.

In the year 1850, Drs. William L. Breckinridge and E. P. Humphrey published a vindication of Dr. E. D. Mac Master from the aspersions cast upon him by Dr. N. L. Rice, in which they bear the following testimony to the position taken by Presbyterian ministers, elders, and Church-members, in Kentucky, for emancipation:

It is well known that during the past year a movement was made for emancipation, that is, the ultimate extinction of slavery,-in the State of Kentucky. The first public meeting on this subject, of which we heard, was addressed by two Presbyterian ministers. The address to the friends of the cause throughout the State, calling a convention at the seat of Government, was drawn up by a Presbyterian minister.

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