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For The Signal Of Liberty

For The Signal Of Liberty image
Parent Issue
Day
30
Month
March
Year
1842
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

lUAusHALL, v maren, io4. Bkotuer Geruit Smith:- I arn so frequently intorrogatcd how I am pleased wilh your -Addressto the Slave? Ifl can subscribe to all the doctrines thereia contained? If I can go with vüu in }our recotnmendation, wlicre the slave is recommended lo tuúe on his woy from the prisori, the horse, the bóat, &c, I have concluded through the Signal to'answer the above inquiries, as I understand you to mean and ns I mysblt' would judge, whether the doctrine bo in accoi dance with precept and example. And in onsweriug those que6tions, I believe it d admitted by all, that they are bond met and I in bondage, slaves, held to service and con aidered challéis, and that they arepressen, iew wiu pretend to disbeheve, and in iliis EÚuation the poor colorcd mao is placed, ond therefore has he not a right, uutvvithstanding all this.where hs beholde in himself the image of lus Creator, m! Snding hirnself a human being, o assert bis ireedom, and a perfect rigiu to break liio vükc nnd ihrow off tho shacklcö. 1} so, has he not eqtial righls with others to use all the necessary meane which are in lis patüway to óbtain that deliverance, and f il be absolulely necessaxy lo save lile to ake the boat, tho horse, in his iiight froni ho tyrant, ulihough it might subject him o be airaigned befóte ao. earthly tribunal hould he bo laken, he cou!d Lut Suffer, uid if üe is overtüken and again taken uck into bondage, he certaiuly musl sufüi - but the question ie, wherj i' Üie preeptand exumple? To the nniions of Eu. ope, past and present, and to tbc Anierian Revolütionj I reftr ibéin;As to your doctrine lliat appears fraught ' with euch horror, to recomniend a man lo ave his life, if u bo necessary,in assertng his freedom to mount a horse that may )G tied to a stako or the mingcr, and ride few miles to obtain thai wliir.h all men lave a passport froin tiieir Maker a8 freemau - for no other has any properiy iu , man but hig Maker- I would ask. did nut ur Revolutionary Fathers declare elves frea f rom the British yofie, and )!edge theirlives, their fortunes and their , acred honor that they would be free from ie oppressiou of that Government, and where in the act of Buffering is the c ni)arison to be made between our fathers nd the poor down trodden and ecarred ave of ihe South, and did not ihey as well 9 all other nalion6 frum the time the chil ren of Israel left Eypt, consider itjustible nnd right, and according lo the usaes, in all cases where a people rebellcd 'rom the governmcnt they were under, to ake the properiy of their oppressors, or of' ny olhers ihat they absolutely stood in eed of to effect their deüverance end con ert to their owu uso and benefit, and vho 6aid aught egainst it but Tories. And ïad not our Father3 oí ihe Revolution, vho were styled rebels, 6ucceded in gainngitheir frecdorn.would they not have been ïung between the heavensaud tho earth,onable argument brought to provo that ie slaves of the South, or any othor quar er of the Globe, have not a perfect righl s wel] as our forefathcr?, to rebel and i6sert iheir rïghts for freedom, and pledge iheir liveaand their scarred oites,(havmg been robbed of ihcir just duea they have 10 fortunes to pledge, and liko the chilJren cflerae!, when they leave to journej aorth they must borrow) ihal they too will te free,aud should ihey find it necesary lo sustaiu sircnglh on their excursión to ihe land of freedom, to take eome of the jffects of others to o'utain thii liljerly, and save hfe, who can be so utterly inconsistent to deny theia the precept and cxaraplc. Doesauy one dare to roise an objoction to hu declaration of Blackstone, when he says, "the principies of slavery are directy against the law of naiuro and of God," he slave is under no moral obligation to ibey the law so far as relates to keeping aitn in boadage, and such a law he has a riglal to viólale , and is bound to do il for his)wn beoeiit and tbat ut tus posterity, and iccording to the Heaven-born principio c jf nature, he is authonzed to use violenee Í 0 effect lbo deliverance of himslf aod famly if no other way is offered to break the r ;haitis. Although it muy be desirable lh.it E 1 peaceable deliverance should be obtniu g sd, yet if all other means fail, and he is e issaulted and driveri to the necessity to e naintain the right of self defence, which c Slackstone declares can never be taken n rom him by human laws, he is i )d toussert his right even to the taking of V ife. And if New York, Pennsylvania, a 3hio or Michigan, or any olher State, a ïave piedged themselves to the Southern } 3tates, to deliver up the fugitive, and n uch a contract does exist tn some of' hem, he is in a land whose laws would n revent his escape, and is under the pow. s ir and influence of slavery until he gets e teyond the juriadiction of such inhuman y awp. There is one other subject, allhough it 9 uut (Üreclly conuecled with !he address, t ret I consider it ia not much out of place in ntroducing it here. As the resolution is a ; new otie of a bold character, it is very auch calculated to make the elaveholder 8 nd his apologist trenible, and probably it c i'ili yet appear that no one resolution evr passed by the anti slavery party has . roduced such an astounding eÜ'ect upon c ie oppressor as this. I refer to the resujtion passed at the convention, in your lace, "that there wus r;o power on earth iat should compel thcm to take up artos " ) prevent the sluve from obtaining his cedom." How was it, I would ask the Vdough faces of the Noith and West (for hearts to feeland i feár they have not) in the resolution? VVcre not those vfn would not aid and aísist those tiiat rebellet ngninsi the Biitish yoke branded wilh infamv, and stylcd lorie?, disgraced, ihem eelves and their posteriiy, and down lo this day are looked upon as encmiea to freedom? It nppcars thut the lime has a-rivcd that the Iriends of Iiberty feel that ihey must take high ground for ac ion, and vary the motie ut' attuck upnn tlie monster. Ana praying mea, truo patriots and all honest heurted politicians foei th.it ifthoy want jighieous rulers, they must, to te chrisiian8, not only pray lut also vote for thein. The liburty party in Alichigun Í9 rapidly increasing, and witl sotm have the ascejideuey uver the slavocracy, which may the Lord grant, for Ihero' 8 one thing certain, if the Liberty party ia the. Northern and Western States can not sustain and carry on and sueceed in their principies, then furewell to this professedly republican but elavc riddcti governmnnt. Prepare, l-rutlier Smith, to five the slaveholdcrs anoiher broadside from the battery Qt Pcícujcío. 1 iike to hear tbe rcaroflhe rtülery as it passes over the huls of New York up the lake to ibis Península, and from here will many a voice re-echo, stavery ! slavery! Ihou art wounded and must die ! With qauch afiectionaic regard, 1 ain your fellow-laborer in ihe cause of human rihts,