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Selections: Signs Of Progress

Selections: Signs Of Progress image
Parent Issue
Day
24
Month
July
Year
1843
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

The follow ing brief notice of the advance if the Anti Slavery cause last year, is from he Report of the Ohio A. S. Society. Thearicle will be read with interest. Slavery is 'ulnerable in many parts,and it will be seen that dverse influences are prestiño it on erery side Never before, have the visible signs of the Drogress of our cause been 60 numeroua and striking as during the past year, A brief Bummary of eventa will show the correctness of this remork. Just about the time a Christian divine of America, was receiving compliments from the republican statesmen for his able vindication o slavery as a Bible institution, the Bey or Tu nis decreed the abolitiou of the syslem withi ell his diminions, as at war with enlightened humanity and the ppint of the Koran. Uraguay, one of those anarchial South American republics, over whoseTmiserable selfgovernment we are accustomed "to mourn, has enfranchised all her population. Committees appointed by Prance have reported a plan for the abolitiou of 6lavery throughout all hef colonies, much to the discomfort of the fervent republicana of the Sovithern States of this Union. Britain has advanced another step beyonc her degenerate daughter, by virtually emancipating her twelve millions of slaves in the East Indies. In Texas the project of Abolition is openly agitated, and ehould the attempt of annexation to this country iinally fail, we muy expecf, as the fruit of all the slaveholding eñbrts for the extention of slavery, the institation o( a freo republic on its south-western boundery-And the military despotism under which the :olored rnce in Hayti had eo long groaned, is t at last broken up, and a new government nstitiited, under which their cnergies wil be leveloped, and b etter directed, eo that hence"orth they will furnish still another illustration )f the capacity of the negro for self-goyernnent. ín our own country, the years of labor and suffering expended in the anti -slavery cause ! are yielding fruit abundantly. Mairje,though controlled by a party claimed eis the natural ally of the slaveholder, has spoken out her condemnation of the unconsticutional Iaws of the slave states in relation to free people of color. Vcrmont has advanced beyond any other state, demanding such amendments of the federal constitution, as will lead to the extinction of elavery throughout the nation. Massachusetts has sent back her final answer to the requirements of Virginia, in the Lalimer case, by making it a penitentiary offence for her officers or citizens to aid in any way in the arrest or detention of a fugitivo from oppression, and forbidding her jails to be prosliluted to the purposes of the slaveholder. Rhode Island has extended to colored people the right of suffrage. New York has refubed to repeal the jurytrial law, and, despite the inachinations of o servile party, slill maintains her antislavery attitude towards Virginia. The Black law of Ohio is repealed. and her Supreme Court has decided that colored perrons lighter than the mulatto have a right to vote under the Constitulion of the state. JudgeEwing of one of Ihe state courts in Peiinsylvania has decided that a cla;m to property in man, is not entitled 1o any favor in law, and the decisión of the Supreme Court in the csse of Pngg did not deprive a person seized as a slave, of the benefit of the babeas corpus act, in the State Courts. According to a recent decisión of a Court of Common Pleas in Missouri, the Iaws of the state prohibiting immigration of free people of color, are violations of the Constitution of the United States, and therefore nuil and void. Kentucky has put her veto on anothermost strenous effort of slaveholders to repeal the law forbidding the importalion of slaves. The Leg slature of Alabanw has districted that utate, according to the white population alone, thus depriving the slaveholder of undue political power- an evcnt the more re markable, as an atlempt in Georgia, a few years'ago, to accomplish the same thing proved a foilure. The Supreme Court of Mississippi has again decided, notwithstanding the decisión of the Supreme Court of the United States, that the Constitution of that state does prohibí t the introduclion of slaves witliin ita limits. Governor McDowell, of Virginia, has recommended a state convention, with a view of 60 amending the Constitution, as to apportion representatives according to the white population alone, the result of which, if carried into effect, would be to transfer the ballance of power from Eastern to Western Virginia, and thus facilítate the extinction of slavery, in the Slate. Mr. McDonough of Louisiana, without a single generous impulse, has worked out before the eye of the planters, without uitend ing it, the demonstration, that wagei areetter than stripes - that the systern of free abor under the heaviest restrictions, is ' lately more productive than slavery - and ' nat but the condilion of Freedom is needed, ' :o invest the slave with the character of a Freeman. EfForts are now being made inLouisiana to extend the right of suffroge, doubtless with a view to reduce the power of the larger slaveholders. Public eentiment is changing slowly,though steadily in the South. In the heart of Kentucky, Ca8sius M. Clay, an extensive slaveholder, has uttered an indignant protest n gainst the system and pledge himself to unceasing efforts for its remo val from his native state. From credible sources we leam, Ihat in several places in that state the people gladly read all the antislavery publicalions that come within their reach; and we can dispose of more of thera there, advantageoulsy for the cause, than we have means to supply. - Throughout the south generaliy, there is a lowering of tone, an abatement of the fiery spirit which used to blaze out so fiercely a - gainst the mere shadow of abohtion. The New Orleans Bulletin, confesses that even there, 'it is a common opinión,' that slavery is a 'terribls misfortune io the country:' and though it will not assent to this, it declares, that it does not consider that it can or will be perpetuated.'In ihe North, the change of sentiment is still more marked. In the market place, along our liighway, on our rivers, Free Discussion triumphs, and elavery is subjected to the most searching examination. The advocate of the slave need not skulk, or stifle his convictions, but may stand up in the spirit, and with the utterance of a man, assume the boldest positions, and yeL be treated with respect. The tone of the newspaper press still more clearly indicates the progresa of sentiment. Abuse of Abolitioüiots in their columns is becoming rare. Immediate emancipation j is nolonger scouted, or deemed visionary.- j Many of the positions taken by tae Liberty men, especially in relation to the Constitutional and economical hearings of Blavery, are admitted by leading presses without opposition and reasoned from as from incontestable data. You can hardly piek up a paper of respectaWe character, which does not at least manifest an inclination to take part in the warfare against slavery. A determination is spreading in the free ! states, to rid themselves of all participation in' the slave system, by denymg it any favor, and restricting it to the narrowest limits. Until within a year or two, the prominent advheates of abolition were subjected to constant conlumely and abusive epithets. This year, the meetings of the American Anti Slavery Society were not:ced in the most respectful terms, by the New York press generally, and one of the largest and most popular papers of titat city was occupied with the repons of its pro - ceedings and the speeches delivered. It was ranked among the other benevolent associations, and its men and raeasures noticed in similar terms.

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Subjects
Signal of Liberty
Old News