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Fugitives From Slavery

Fugitives From Slavery image
Parent Issue
Day
19
Month
May
Year
1841
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

L'mler thi head we gave last week an account ofsix fugitives who passed through th9 place, and received assistance from our hands - bound for Canada. We takc great pleasure in announcing to our readers that they have all landed, as we intended tbey should, safe on Briüsh soil. - Whcn informed that they were beyond the grasp of their tyrannical masters, safe in the"Queen's dominions," ihey joined in inging a hymn of praise to God for their safe delivernnce from Americnn slavery. But some of our ncighbors nccuse us of being"worse than norse thieves," becnuse we have given to the colored man a helping hand in his perilous journey. We are atoo held up as "transgresaors of the law," and "having no regard for the civil aulhority." To all such we would say that we have transgressed no law of the Uniled States, nor of the State in which we live. We havo obeyed the promptings of humanity n the cause. We have pursued the rule of the Savior, and hope to have similar opporlunities of "doing unto others as we would they should do unio unto us." - Bat a word wilh regard to the character of our accusers: they are not always the. most law abiding people on the earth. So far as wc can learn raosl of them nre profane swearers - Sabbath-breakers - rumdiinkens, and not unfrequently "drunkery'1 tendere, and f we have done any ihinér by which it is distinctly understood n the community that we do not belong lo their company, and are not to be received into their association, we certainly feel compensated forall that we have suffered and done for the poor down trodden slave. - Should any one inquire for the authority under whieh we act, wbile aiding the fugitive in his escnpe to the land of hts choice, we most cheerfully point them to our law book - the best on earih- the Bible: Deut. 23: 15, 19- "Thou shalt nol deliver unto his master the servan] whïch is escaped from his tnaster unto tiice; He shall dweli with thee, even among you, in that place which heshall choose, in one o thygates, where it iiketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him." Ne ver, noer, while our lips can pronounue a wor or our fingers use the quill, vvill we ceas ío plead the cause of our in ju red colore brother; and never, the Lvrd heing on belper, shali he ever have occasion to sa) "For I was an hungered, and ye gave m no meat; ,1 was thirsty and yegnve me n drink; 1 was a stWmger and y e took in notin; naked, and ye cloiheci me nol, ick and in prison, and ye visited me nol, - a sound like this, coming from a miserable but innocent fellow beiug woitfld grat upon our ear- pain our breast, and sink us in infamy and woe, from wliich we pra the Lord to deliver us.CThis papar was establislicd lo pro mote the nbolition of slavery, and to tlm purpose it wilj be devoted. In promotin tnat cause, we shall endeavor to avoid a tb&t low Bcurrility and personal abuse, whic ís bo commonly found ín partisan publico tion. But the public acts of any individu al, and {hO principies and practices of politt eal parties, are proper eubjects for cotnmcn in a public Journal, and if, in remarking o them we ehould cross the track of otljer wboae political faith difFers from our own we cannot.Uelp it. VVeintencl, in no case to exceed the bounds of candor and truüi but wilhin those bounds we expect to us our libcrties to the ful lest extenf But if any persons have expected, (hat w hall keep balancing between the whig and democratie parties-this week speaking we! orill ofone party, and next week praising or hlaramgr the other, just enough to keep the balance even, and thereby showing ou impartiality- they m fmd themselves mis taken. We expect to tako that course which the interest of our enterprise may re quire, (always regarding the rules of rectitade,) whether our censure or praise be bsttowed on or.e party exclusively, orequally dispensed to bo'.h.Notlong since, the Senate of New York pawed a resolution, directing the Clerk to cause part of the gollery appropriated to ■pectators, to be partitioned off, for the exclusive benefit of the colored people, who might wieh to be spectators of the LegislaUve proceedings, and a notice to be affixed at the entrance, requiring them to occupy theaeats thus railed off" for their especial oe. If &e remember aright, upon reflection, 'he Sánate became aabamed of their own resolution, and it was rescinded before it had been carried into execution. On this, the Ptniuylvania Freeman remarks: What a rebuko does theSenate's action on tho enclosure resolution bestow upon our "Christianr congregations, for that neaven insulting custora which coop3 up a portion of the worshiping asaembly in a "Liberia peiv, in some remóte corner of the 80-called sanctuary ! How plaiuly and audibly and etnphatieally does it echo the declarution of an Aposlle, "If ye have re'pect ynto persons, ye comrait sin, and are tontfineed of the Jaw as traagreaors !"'