The voice of freedom. [volume], September 28, 1839, Image 2

About The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848

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but whenever he saw" a man in pursuit of his lib
erty, leaving behind him his chains wilh the vas
salage that he would fling off forever, he needed
no labored Rnd long-winded argument to convince
him that the fugitive had a right to himself and a
claim upon the sympathy of his fellow-men, and
from the mere impulse of humanity he was prompt
ed to aid him onward to a land where the clank of
the fetter and the crack of the whip should no Ion
ger vex his ear. I find much of this natural fee
ling in the community, and have seen enough to
convince me that it is steadily and rapidly on the
increase. lhe human heart, unless grossly per
verted from its natural impulses, by interest or by
prejudice, revolts with horror from the proposition
to return the fugitive back to his bondage or to
render any facilities to the pursuer, who follows
like a bloodhound on the track of his panting prey.
This feelinff of svmnaihv for the wronged, and
disposition to assist him in his escape, is by no
means confined to those who are proiessemy uuu
litionists. Tell such men we have in Pittsburgh
. an editor who will advertise for the man-hunter,
and civil officers who will prostitute themselves
and their station to the infamous purposes of the
kidnapper, and they will look into your face with
the utmost evident incredulity, and seem restrain
ed only by courtesy from accusing you of slander
ing the o nciai uirmtaries 01 our city. Aias : now
blind to all the teachings of humanity, or how
dead to every finer impulse of the human heart,
must he be who can lend himself to the man-hunter,
and for a paltry pittance become an accessory
before the fact to the horrible crime of man-steal
ing !
Though our fellow-traveller would not hesitate
to aid the fugitive slave in his escape, he could
by no means entertain the idea of immediate e
mancipation. He was asked why he objected,
" Oh," said he with much apparent sincerity as if
history and common sense had not unilormly
tausht the contrary, " it would be dangerous re
volt and bloodshed, anarclw and desolation
would ensue." He was requested to give hi
reasons for entertaining such an opinion, but
though evidently intelligent on other subjects, lie
could give no reason for his belief, except that "it
must be evident to every one that such must be
the results of emancipation." He was pointed to
the British West Indies to Antiana, where
emancipatian was instantaneous; to other island
which had rejected the apprenticeship system af
ter the trial of four years to Mr. fecobles un
questionable testimony of their present prosperity
and steady advancement in intelligence, morality
and wealth and he was dumb! He could not
deny the facts, yet they proved a position so to
tally opposed to the one he had assumed as indis
putable, that he evidently knew not what to say,
and therefore, like a wise man, said nothing.
I was happy to find thai one of our travelling
companions was an intelligent, and apparently,
warm-hearted abolitionist. He had recently re
turned from a tour of four years in Europe, and
had much of the ease and gentleness of manner
which extensive intercourse with the world, added
to naturally kind feelings, will give one, He
had once been shocked at what he considered the
principles of the abolitionists, but an investigation
of them had resulted in the conviction of their
propriety and their consequent adoption. He des
cribed graphically the feelings of an American in
Europe, when on allusion was made to this monster-sin
of our country. " There," said he, " our
local attachments are merged in our affection for
our country as a whole. . We regard it as a unit,
and leel lor its reputation accordingly. We are
not Pennsylvanians, nor New-Yorkers, nor New
Englanders we are not northern men nor. south
ern men, but Americans, feefing jealous for our
national reputation, and alive to her honor wi the
estimation of the world. " Oh !" said he, " with
our professions and our institutions, slavery is a
great lie, and is looked upon by other nations as
without excuse or palliation. In England the
subject cannot be avoided. It meets one at every
turn. It is all pervadinnr as the air you breathe.
The moral sentiment of thenation is alive with it.
and they are determined to give slavery no quarter
while it remains this side cl its own appropriate
sphere the bottomless pit ' .' In France, too, the
great deep of public sentiment is broken up.
Inquiry is elicited investigation is going for
ward and the mind of the nation is rapidly rip
ening for colonial emancipation. How idle it is
for our Southern states to expect to clinc to this
unnatural institution? The public sentiment of
ine civilized world is last concentrating against
it. It cannot survive the onsent. We do not
live in an isolated country, walled about by feu
dalism and kept aloof from the moralinfluences
which are abroad in the earth upon their mission
of good. The sentiments of others must affect
our own. In a little while slavery will exist in
no civilized country except the United States.
Then, its doom in our own land will be sealed
It must soon be abolished, and the sooner it is
done, the easier will it be for the masters, and
the better for all parties who are now involved in
it...
Such was the substance of our tourist's re
marks, interspersed with interesting and frequent
ly amusing anecdotes; and when on the after
noon of the first day we parted company. for di
vergent routes, we all felt that we had lost an in
telligent and agreeable travelling companion.
The journey over a rough road and through
the mud and wet during the ensuing night was
sufficiently wearisome and trying to 'the patience
of the sleepy passengers. Among our number
was a lady with an infant child. How assidu
ously she provided for its comfort at tho sacrifice
pf her own! She watched over it through the
long and weary night with a sleepless care, hold
uig it in such a position that the jolting of the
coach should not injure it while awako nor dis-
tlirh Yvhila it clartt Tl uras 1 L l .
w vnoa guuu oaoe, and re
paid u motners watchfulness by bright eyes and
laugning tips on tne next morning, when it ifnvl
its innocent head from the guardian lap where it
nau rested, and stretching out its tiny hands,
crowed in the exultation of happy babyhood. I
was much interested in the mother and child;
but is it strange that my thoughts went far away
from that beautiful picture of maternal love and
infant glee, to the plantations of the South, where
mptners bleed under the lash and infants are sold
by the pound; ? Half-sleeping and half-waking,
1 tell into a reverie, and the eakv enarh. tho mnrl,
dy road, and the swearing driver faded from my
iciuucuuuii. ine scenes oi me southern prison
wee uciuio my eye. nere Dent to ner
unrequited toil a hapless female, with her wail
ing infant bound upon her back. She might not
pause to nusn its cry. 1 he eye of the brutal o
verseor was upon her, and his lash was already
THE
ted with ner blood. Jt was ;or nee niomcia
fondle their infants in their bosoms, or sit by the
side of their little bed and sing their cradle-hymn.
Another lot was hers. The joys oi . maternity
must give way to her dread of the driver's whip.
In a few days the tender flesh of her little one
miht be torn by that whip as hers was now.
He child was not her own. True, God had giv
en it to her, hut another claimed it as his proper
ty. On the side of the oppressor there was pow
ers but for that heart-broken slave-mother appear
ed no helper.
The scene changed. A crowd of men, with
eager expectation in their looks, were, before my
eye. A blood-red flag was over my head. Up
on it, painted in capitals, was the annunciation,
" Slaves, Horses, and other cattle to be sold here.
The hammer of .the auctioneer, fell frequently
with its careless stroke, and human ties were riv
en at every blow.. Here '.he parent was sold
from the child there the husband from his wife,
and tears and lamentations, and shrieks and
groans went upward continually, while above
them all rose the shrill notes of the auctioneer
and the loud crack of the driver's whip. Pres
ently the mother and her babe were brought up
on the stand. As the auctioneer rudely seized
her that he might expose her person most faith
fully to gaze of the surrounding crowd, she clasp
ed the infant to her breast as if resolved that noth
ing but death should ever part them. , And yet
she knew
"How weak her arm to save from worse lhan death,
From beastly men who nurse for infamy
And cherish for pollution ! "
"Who bids?" cried the auctioneer. A moth
er and her child ! separate or together to suit
the purchaser ! Sold for no fault !" and his ham
mar kept time with his tongue, as in jockey style
he enumerrted her good "points." She was sold
and her child was torn from her arms, and sold
by weight to another purchaser. Crushing down
her feelings she had looked calmly on until the
seal of their final separation was set, and then
they could not be suppressed. She shrieked
she supplicated in vain. The grave is not more
remorseless lhan those human flesh-mongers.
.They rore her away from the conscious baby who
stretched out its little hands imploringly to the
mother it was never to see again. The deed was
done. Once more the scene changed. Before
me, seated on the ground beneath the stars of
midnight that seemed to look clown upon her with
pitying eyes, sat that desolate-hearted mother. A
low wail was in my ear, as the voice of one who
mourns the death of her first-lorn yet sadder,
more hopeless even lhan that. The slave-mother
poured on the unansvvering air her lamentations
for her child, and the burden of her melancholy
song was this :
"Woe for thy lot, thou doomed ona ! woo !
A seal is on thy fate !
And shame, and toil, and wretchedness
On all thy steps await !"
My reverie was over but the reality of suffering
which slavery entails upon its miserable victims
yet remains. Oh, that any who profess to have
known the baptism ot the opint ol Uod should
be indifferent to its existence ! That any should
justify the wrong, and plead for its continuance ! .
"Cry! for the good man faileth! Call aloud!
If ye be dumb, the stones beneath your feet
Shall have a voice! Earth cannot be thus dumb!
Earth which hath drank the blood of innocence,
Earlh, which hath hidden in her breast the slain,
Shall call to Heaven for vengeance!"
The night passed heavily with its darkness and
storm, but the morning came with its bright sun
shine and its balmy air. So shall the morn of
freedom succeed the long dark night of despotism!
In this confidence and the strength it inspires,
abolitionists should urge forward their glorious
enterprise.
About nine o'clock we descended into the val
ley where nestles the beautiful village of Mead
ville, looking more like a thriving Yankee settle
ment than any thing I have seen since I left my
own Prfew- England, i' rom JUeadville to ine
my only tiavelling companion was a Canadian
hunter, who carried in his hand a rifle of enor
mous weight, the very sight of which would have
appalled the amateur sportsmen of our city, who
sally forth occasionally with their slender fowling-pieces,
and return with their silken game
bags filled with those dangerous and voracious
birds, the wood-thrush and the robin ! During
the day, our road led through a beautiful tract of
country, covered with ell-cultivated farms and
dotted here and there with thriving villages, each
with its rustic school-house and commodious
church, giving evidence that the great conserva
tive principles of our State intelligence and relig
ion, were not forgotten in the acquisition of
wealth. The hand of honest, requited toil has
been among those fields and villages. They bear
no marks of slavery. They flourish too vigor
ously for that. Let those who cultivate the one
and build the other, while in the midst of the
blessings which they enjoy, " remember those in
bonds as bound with them," and as they would
transmit their own inheritance of freedom unim
paired to their children and their children's chil
dren, demand that its blessing be bestowed im
partially upon all,
"Until no longer o'er the smiling land
Is heard the voice of tyranny, and all
Who breathe the same pure air alike are free"
Why we don't go to the South. Abolition
ists do not go to ths South, because the right
time is not yet come. The need being equal, it is
usually well for us to remedy a wrong at our
own doors, before we go abroad to correct one
which may exist there. When we have induced
the North to cease from slaveholding, then, we
doubt not abolitionists will be found actively at
iii me ouuiu. ai present, ine numoer is
much greater in the Northorn States ; for the ac
tual slaveholders are not only those who possess
the nominal title to the slaves, but those who
make, sustain, and execute laws to assist others in
holding slaves. Those who are usually denomi
nated slaveholders, do not compose one-tenth of
the adult white male population of. the United
states, If the nmo-temhs will cease to aid the
one-tenth in committing aggression, it will become
utterly impossible for the latter to hold the oppress
ed any longer in bondage. When Pennsylvania,
and other Northern States, shall have repealed
all their local laws which in any way sustain
slavery, .-and when, through the votes of their
members of Congress, and of their State Legisla
tures, they shall have lent their efforts for the
changing of every provision in the Constitution
and laws of the Union which in any way sustain
it, then (we venture to predict) will the friends of
emancipation De louna as zealous and active in the
VOICE OF FREEDOM,
South as they are now in the North ; and then,
wo venture also to predict, will the greatest system
of injustice and oppression on the earth, be near
us final overthrow. Venn, irceman.
THE VOICE OF FREEDOM.
MONTPELIER, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1839.
The Windsor Movement.
We gave our readers, last week, some account
of the recent colonization movement in Windsor
the lectures of Elliot Cresson the organization of
the Windsor Society, &c. A correspondent of
the Chronicle, (presumed to be Hon Milton Brown)
gives some additional particulars. He states that
" tho ground assumed by the lecturer was, that the
Colonization Society were, de facto, abolitionists;(!)
while abolitionists were roundly charged with the
basest treachery and hypocrisy!" The correspond
ent of the Chronicle adds, "As one to whom his
arguments were addressed, the writer had an un
questionable right to suppose him sincere ; and to
put his sincerity beyond a doubt, proposed an amend
ment to the constitution of the Windsor Coloniza
tion Society, (then under consideration,) embrac
ing the very principle he had been laboring to es
tablish, viz : that " one of the objects of ths Society
is, to endeavor to effect the entire abolition of sla
very." Yet, this nmendmeut was not adopted.
but strenuously resisted by Mr. Cresson and otlv
ers." The Chronicle gravely replies that this re
sistance was " on the ground that it the amend
ment was unnecessary, the whole ground of the
elevation of the Negro race being covered by the
constitution as it stood." ! !
- Unnecessary, forsooth ! The Chronicle would
seem to insist, then, that the newly-forined Wind
sor Colonization Society is virtually, or indirectly,
or in the abstract, or some how or other, in favor
of" the entire abolition of slavery"! Now, if it be
so, we are solicitous to know by what mysterious
plan its operations are to be conducted ? Are its
funds lobe cast into the treasury of the American
Colonization Society? or is this another "new
organization" ? Bear in mind, that the parent
society stands pledged, not only by the terms of its
constitution, but by a resolution adopted at its an
nual meeting in lS34and never rescinded, against
any object other than " the true and single object"
of colonization in Africa or some other place !
To show our readers how admirably this new
progeny of Colonization harmonizes with its slave-
holding relatives in the sunny south, we beg at
tention to the annexed article. In the African
Repository for March, there is an account, copied J
from the INashvilIe Commercial Chronicle ol Dec.
1S3S, of the formation of a Colonization Society
in Baldwin county, Alabama, auxiliary to the A
merican Society. From the report of a committee
appointed to prepare " a synopsis of the reasons
of the people for moving in this matter," (which
report was adopted) we make the following ex
tract. People of Vermont, ma;k it well !
" We do not deem it necessary to enter into an
elaborate argument to prove the expediency of a
measure which, from its important bearing on our
present and fjture prosperity, should be a matter
ol anxious consideration with all. but we con
sider, at least, a briel exposition oi our views due
to ourselves, as well as to our fellow-citizens who
differ with us in opinion.
We hold it to be the duty of good citizens to du
ly weigh principles beiore they act upon them :
but when once convinced that they are just and
proper, and lhat it is expedient and for the good ol
the community thai they should be carried out,
then we hold that no lethargy, indisposition, or op
position should prevent every well-wisher ol his
country from using all honest means in his power
to render such principles effective. And altera
due examination of the plan of colonizing the free
blacks out of lhe country, with' their own consent,
we believe it safe, philanthropic, and of vital im
portance to its tranquility; because it respects, to
the fullest extent, the inviolability of private rights
and private property; because it proposes to remove
from among us a degraded, useless, and vicious race,
who are but nominally lree, to a place where they
can be free and happy ; because the plan has been
advocated and supported by such men as Jefferson,
Madison, Munroe, Crawlord, Marshall, liushrod
Washington, and many other great and good men,
whose wisdom and patriotism cannot now be ques
tioned ; and because we consider -the measure, of
ALL OTHERS, BKST CALCULATED TO PRESERVE GOOD
ORDER AND PROPER DISCIPLINE AMONG OUR SLAVES.
For, notwithstanding the laws of most of the indi
vidual states prohibiting their immigration within
their limits to reside, it is notorious that they pass
from state to state, nnd from one part of a state to
another part, without exciting the particular atten
tion of any one, and, of consequence, are peculiar
ly accessible to designing fanatics, who may, thro
their instrumentality, disseminate their disorgan
izing doctrines, involving, in their spread, insur
rection, massacre, and servile war. Therefore, we
deem the plan of removing them from the Umled
States the most effectual method of counteracting
the ultimate designs of the abolitionists. It is no
torious that they the abolitonists, are tho mosl
violent opponents which the scheme ol coloniza
tion has to encounter. Their penetration has dis
covered its tendency : and they denounce it as a
scheme originating among slaveholders, for the
perpetuation of slavery, and for the removal of the
very elements on which they the abolitionists
rely, to produce an explosion which shall ultimate
ly compel the Southern states to resort to indis
crimate emancipation, in self defence. We connot.
therefore, but look upon the rapid increase of free
blacks as dangerous, affording probable grounds
for the partial realization of these expectations.
unless the process of removal be soon commenced
and steadily prosecuted. Commenced now, and
the expense of removing a sutlicient number to
prevent their farther increase will not be too great
to permit a hope of its being accomplished ; delay
ed to another generation, and the resources of the
state would be inadequate to the undertaking. j
In 1790. the fiee black population of the Unit
ed States was only 59,140; in 1830, it had swel-
i i . -. . . , i i- r.L-
ieu to K.'i,uoU ! showing a uouunng oi uieciuss,
from the natural increase and from emancipation,
about every fifteen years.
In the present slaveholding states, the same pop
ulation was in 1790, but 28,197 ; and in 1830, the
number had increased to 1R7.71S being doub-
ed in those states, from the natural increase and
from emancipation about every 16 years.
In 1S29, Alabama contained only 571 free
blacks ; in 1830, she had 1,510, and in 30 years
Irom the present time, at lhe same ratio ot increase,
she will contain upwards of 50,000. Mobile
alone has now 4u7, being about as many as the
whole state contained in 1820. In our own coun
ty, with an entire population of less than 3,000, ac
cording to the recent census, there are 69 free
blacks.
The states of Virginia, Maryland, Louisiana, &
Mississippi, are now prosecuting the object with
an earnestness proportioned to lhe necessity of re
moving so great an incubus. . Nor can the same
policy in this slate, in relation to the same object,
be otherwise than beneficial, which is necessary
in those. Virginia, with a free black popolation
of 50,000, availing herself of the agency of the
American Col. Soc. at Washington, has sent to
Liberia about 2,000. Maryland, with a still larg
er free black population, has established a colony
of her own, and, under a legislative appropriation
of 200,000 dollars, despatches two or three expe
ditions annually to Maryland in Africa.
Louisiana and Mississippi have also colonies of
their own on the western coast ot Amca, lor which
emigrants leave New Orleans twice a year, in
a regular packet, owned by the two societies.
In view of these premises, we cannot see the
wisdom of postponing action until the approach
ing tornado overwhelms us loith its devastations.
Liberia possesses every requisition of soil and cli
mate to afford the colonists subsistence and inde
pendence. Already have several miniature re
publics sprung up there, in which are cherished
the principles of our own institutions ; and so far
as the race is susceptible ol improvement, the held
is a fovorable one for their success. Nor should
it be forgotten that it is the natural home of the
negro race, and at a safe distance, whence they
could never return to the injury of our slave popw
lalion ; and, if stern necessity should ever demnd
their banishment from the United states, hu
MAN1TY COULD NOT PLEAD THAT THERE WAS NO
PLACE PREPARED FOR THEIR RECEPTION.
What say you, brother Tracy, is " the whole
ground of the elevation of the negro race covered'
by your Alabama coadjutors ? What says Pres
dent Clay, with his sixty slaves at his heels ?
James CJ. Birney.
The Philanthropist of the 17th, states thai this
gentleman passed through Cincinnati, recently, on
his way to Louisville, Ky. The occasion which
called him thither, was the sudden decease of his
father, who resided near Louisville, and who died
without will, leaving twenty-one slaves. Mr. B
the son, and lhe Hon. Judge Marshall, married lo
Mr. B.'s only sister, were the only persons legal
ly interested in the estate. Between them a di
vision was agreed on, by which all the slaves were
set off to Mr. B. The next day, the deeds of
emancipation having in the mean time been pre
pared, THEY WERE ALL WADE FREE. The Same
number of the Philanthropist gives a copy of the
deed of emancipation.
On his return to Cincinnati, an anti-slavery
meeting was held in the sixth Presbyterian Church
(Rev. J. Blanchard's) which is thus noticed by the
Philanthropist:
Meeting in Cincinnati. On last Tuesday
evening, a large concourse of people assembled to
hear Mr. Birney deliver an address, in the Sixth
Presbyterian church. The place was crowded.
The audience listened wilh profound, and unbro
ken attention. It was one of Mr. Birney's best
efforts. Clear, strong, calm and conclusive, his
exposition of the nature of slavery and ils horrible
effects will be forgotten by few. who heard him.
Ex-Sehator Morris being present, was called upon,
at the conclusion of the lecture, and for more than
an hour spoke in his usual fearless and energetic
style of the inroads and designs of the slavehold
ing power. Both speeches must have, occupied,
we think, about three hours in their delivery, but
the interest of the people continued, unabated to.
the last.
Trial of the Captives.
The reader will find in two articles which we
copy from the Daily Atlas, a pretty full report, so
far as proceedings have been had, in the interest
ing case of the African Captives. Judge Thomp
son has decided that the Circuit Uourt, beiore
whom the case of the so-called slaves was brought,
have no jurisdiction on the charge of piracy and
murder. On the claim set up involving the ques
tion of property, the Judge, as reported, does not
decide. The case, it seems, is to be carried to the
District Court, and it is impossible to anticipate
what will be the result. Our anti-slavery friends
of New-York have taken every precaution to get
a full,report of the trial.
Tho Baptists Moving.
The Vermont Telegraph, the excellent organ
of the Baptist denomination in this State, contains
a call for a " Vermont Baptist Anti-Slavery Con
vention," to meet at Brandon, on Tuesday the 8th
of October. The firm and consistent testimony
which our brethren of this denomination have
borne on the subject of human rights, fully war
rants the expectation that a strong impulse will
be given to our cause by this movement. The
General Convention of Baptists at their meeting
two years since, addressed a noble letter of admo
nition to their slaveholding brethren in the South.
The letter was published in some of the Baptist
papers in the slave slates, and no doubt produced
a salutary impression on many a slaveholder's con
science. Fihe in New-York. On Tuesday afternoon
last, a fire broke out in the National Theatre in
the city of New-York, and before its progress
could bearrested,a large number of buildings were
destroyed, including the theatre and three churches.
rrotractcd Meeting.
Many of our readers will be interested to learn
that a protracted religious meeting is in progress
at the Free Church in this place, and that appear
ances are indicative of good. The Rev. Mr. Day,
extensively and favorably knonrn in New York &
Ohio as an Evangelist, is the preacher. Both as
a serrnonizcr and speaker Mr. Day is a man of
uncommon gifts. His style of address is some
what similar to that of Mr. Burchard, though, as
we understand, the two brethren have no acquaint
ance with each other. The meeting will continue
for some time to come. Public services at 2 P. M.
and at 7 o'clock, P. M. through this and next
week, and on the Sabbath at the usual hours of
divine service.
IE7To our friend who writes from Chittenden
County, we "would say, that while we do not dis
sent from his main position, we do not think the
publication of his peculiar religious dogmas in our
columns would serve any valuable purpose. The
discussion which he invites seems better adapted
(o a private conference than to a paper not open
to sectarian controversy.
For the Voice of Freedom.
Congregational Convention ?Jo. 1.
Mr. Editor In your account of the doings of
the Vermont Convention of Ministers, as detailed
in your paper of August 31, there is much to grat
ify the friends of the oppressed ; although it is
painful to find, that some of the old leaven re
mains. We will hope, lhat soon the Convention
will purge out the old leaven, and so become a
new lump.
It is with pleasure that I find no one disposed
to justify, or even palliate slavery. President
Bates pronounced slavery the greatest curse of this
nation, and Mr. Merrill said he was ready to pass
a resolution, and call slavery a sin. And a large
proportion of the Convention did pass such a res
olution. We may then fairly conclude, that in
the judgment, and by the decision of the Congre
gational ministers in the State of Vermont, south
ern slavery is a sinful institution a curse to this
nation. Here then we all meet, and cordially
shake hands. Why then should not all take hold
of the work and try to get rid of this sin, which is
a curse lo the nation ?
I know not how it may strike pthers, but to me
it is rather curious, that the gentlemen, who were
the most opposed to abolition, were the most un
charitalle towards the southern churches. They
said a letter would do tun goodT would beuseless,
woo'd not be pubthAed a the religious papers at
the south, while the abolitionists though: the south
ern conscience might yet be roused; that southern
mind might be enlightened, ani that even slave
holders might yet be induced to yield to the claims
of God, and let the oppressed go free. I ask
Christians at the south.which party have the mo;t
charity for you ? those, lhat think you may be re
covered out of the snare of the devil, or those,
who think you incorrigible, and practically say :
they are juned to idols, let them alone. - " There
is a point where the duty of remonstrance ceases,"
said Mr. Merail. And have your northern friends
arrived at this painful point, without even writing
a friendly letter to warn you of your danger? Is
this the way they love you ? Have you not been
wounded in the house of your friends ? And will
the wound be healed by the remarks made by
Prof. Hough, " that you were sufficiently apprized
of the views of the churches at the North ?" Have
you not" met delegates from northern churches in
your ecclesiastical bodies ? Have not northern
pulpits been open to your ministers? Have not
northern churches generally received you to their
communion ? And have you not found the reli
gious papers at the north generally disposed to
prophecy smooth things to you? How then have
you been apprized of the views of those northern
Christians, who think you are dead, beyond all
hope of recovery ? " Is there no halm in Gillead?
Is there no physician there ?"
Well, but an Hon. gentleman says the Conven
tion have no jurisdiction over the question. Why
not? If they have jurisdiction over anything, it
is over their own acts, the questions that come
regularly before them. Over anything else, in
the church, or out of the church', they surely have
no jurisdiction, and never can have until the con
stitution of our churches is destroyed. The Con
vention of ministers is a voluntary association, and
has just as much jurisdiction as any voluntary
association, and no more. But this does net prove,
that they may not take up, discuss and act upon
any subject, that will be for their own edification,
the good of their churches, or the salvation of a
dying world. The Convention have no jurisdic
tion over the churches wilh which they are connect'
ed; yet they may with great porpriety send them
a pastoral letter, with exhortations, warnings, and
rebukes. And on the same principle they may
warn, rebuke, or exhort the churches in S. Caro
lina, or in Asia. Ministers of the gospel are the
Embassadors of Christ, and may, yea, must do
whatsoever he commands them, whether men, or
churches, hear, or whether they forbear. What
ever Christ commands they must do; and this
they may do without assuming jurisdiction over
any one. The Synod of S. Carolina may indeed
remonstrate with northern churches for interfering
with the institutions of the south, nnd the church