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ABDUCTION OF SLAVES.

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to discuss the question. It is idle to tell men in our country that they shall not discuss any question of morals, politics, or religion. It cannot be prevented. There is neither authority nor power to prevent it; and we trust it will never be attempted, unless the liberty of speech or of the press shall be abused to the injury of individuals or of society.

Now it is notorious that the head and front of the offence committed by the class of whom Judge Robertson speaks, is that they would discuss the question of slavery; or, if the term suits any better, that they would "agitate" the subject. They had, as all the world knows, a peculiar way of their own; but if they transgressed no law, that peculiarity was a part of their right. They called hard names, and unnecessarily stirred up bitter feelings. In this they committed an offence against good taste and Christian propriety, and we have always disapproved of their course. But that they, in common with all men, had a perfect right to discuss the subject to their hearts' content, all must admit. If discussion disturbed slavery, as it is universally conceded it did,—and must necessarily do so, however conducted, it was one of the misfortunes of the institution which from its nature could not be avoided, and for which it was alone responsible. And it will be seen in the sequel, that here is where the great "grievance" lies, when the case is sifted to the bottom. Mankind would discuss the merits of slavery. Hence the germ of Southern dissatisfaction.

ABDUCTION OF SLAVES.

But the abolitionists are charged with doing far worse than discussing the subject. It is said, they stole Southern property; when fugitive slaves were pursued, they made open resistance to the laws; and finally, their schemes cul

minated in the John Brown raid. We shall not defend any of these things. We have always condemned them. We have advocated in the pulpit, in a Northern State, obedience to the laws, active or passive, the Fugitive Slave Law included, specifying it by name, and have condemned mob violence, and our views have heretofore been published. We should take the same course with regard to any properly enacted law, without regard to its character. We know of no other course which a Christian can justly take.

But suppose it be admitted that the abolitionists did all that is here charged, what does it amount to as justifying or even extenuating this gigantic rebellion? South Carolina formally presents in her "Declaration of Causes which induced the Secession" of the State, and as "justifying" it, this spoliation of her slave property; and yet, South Carolina, as the men of her Convention must have known from the statistics extant, suffered very little in this regard, and even less than any other State. All the seceded States suffered comparatively little, and those most noisy about secession least of all, from their geographical position; while the Border States, from which the largest number escaped, were content to remain in the Union, and condemned in not very measured terms the course of the States farther South. This complaint of the rebel States, of the loss of their property, when presented to justify either secession or rebellion, is too well known to be the most shallow and hypocritical of all false pretences.

THE WHOLE NORTH CHARGED WITH IT.

The attempt has been made to implicate the mass of the Northern people in these breaches of the law and good faith towards the South. Certain newspapers, North and South, have rung with such charges, and certain Northern

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and many Southern orators in Congress have made them. But their falsity is obvious. No evidence has ever been found to sustain them, even after the most diligent search. It was charged, for example, that the whole North aided and abetted John Brown; or, at least, as was again said, the whole Republican party; or, with still another abatement, certainly the leaders of that party, though in the face of their positive denials. Senator Mason, of Virginia, was so sure of his game that he called for a Committee of the United States Senate, "with full power to send for persons and papers," to investigate the subject. He was promptly accommodated, and was made chairman. After a long research without let or hindrance, and with all the power of a willing Administration to aid him, he made a report and asked for the Committee's discharge. He found nothing and reported it.

ABOLITIONISTS NOT REPUBLICANS.

In regard to the abolitionists, who are held "primarily and pre-eminently accountable" for the horrors of this rebellion, it is well known that they have ever formed a remarkably small fraction of the community, and that their influence with the mass of the people has been insignificant. They have never, in any Presidential election, as a party, acted with the Republican party, but have opposed it with violence and bitterness, always having their own candidate. Since the rebellion has been in progress, the leaders of that faction have sometimes been found supporting the Government and sometimes abusing it; according to our observation, most commonly the latter. Wendell Phillips, the most renowned orator among them, has frequently, and of late, denounced the President by name, and the Administration, for the policy pursued in conducting the war, and

he has publicly identified himself with a party opposed to Mr. Lincoln's re-election.

But granting all that may with truth be said of these men, their numbers and influence have always been so small in the country, that it is perfectly preposterous to hold them "primarily and pre-eminently accountable" for the war and its consequences. Or, granting that the utmost that has been charged upon this class is true to the letter,-yea, and that vastly more than is charged specifically, is true of them,-yet, it cannot before God, nor will it before candid men, be deemed sufficient to justify, or in the least possible degree to extenuate, an open and bloody revolution against the General Government. And although it may be urged against the Garrison and Phillips school that they for many years strived to divide the Union, and they freely admit the charge, at least their leaders, their weapons were the tongue and the pen. They never, as a party, put themselves in battle array to overthrow the Government, seizing the ships, mints, custom-houses, and forts of the Government, and using them in a bloody contest for its destruction. These memorable deeds were left for the Southern chivalry,-" our Southern brethren," and for the sake of slavery.

ABOLITIONISTS COMPLIMENTED-THE PEOPLE DISPARAGED.

But do serious people see the bearing of such a charge? In holding the Abolitionists responsible, do they perceive what power over twenty millions of people in the Free States they ascribe to the merest fraction of the population?

Here is a small body of persons, led by some half a dozen orators, male and female, who have, within a few years, by meetings, speeches, and publications,-all peaceful and legitimate means under a free Government,—put

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forth their sentiments on a given subject, and have produced one of the most astounding revolutions in human history in the sentiments of an enlightened, educated, and religious people; leading this people, to such an expression of opinion at the ballot-box, as is deemed a solemn political judgment on one of the mightiest questions of State which ever affected any people resulting in so disaffecting another portion of the same nation, in population relatively not more than one-third of the whole number, as to induce them to take up arms to 66 recover their rights," and to induce the majority also to take up arms to maintain that political judgment; and thus exhibiting to the world one of the greatest and most bloody wars ever known among men. All this is charged upon this "contemptible faction," as it is called; but by no means. contemptible, if the charge is true.

While this "faction" was engaged in this work, they were opposed, in both sections of the nation thus affected by them, by the much larger portion of the "fourth estate," the press, secular and religious, daily, weekly, and periodical; they were covered with reproach, and the most opprobrious epithets of the English language were heaped upon them, by orators in Congress and among the people, by the press, and by all the usual appliances for affecting public opinion. During all the earlier period of their career, they were frequently assailed with other weapons; showered with rotten eggs, their meetings broken up by mobs, their public halls burned, ordinary places for popular assemblages denied them, their printingpresses broken and their offices sacked and burned; and if one of them chanced to be found South of a certain line of latitude, or a person who was no more than " suspected" of being one of them, a coat of tar and feathers was the least compliment paid him; and if his visit was welcomed

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