The voice of freedom. [volume], November 30, 1839, Image 1

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

Image provided by: University of Vermont

                
THE
VOICE
3ED
M
E. Ai ALLEN, Publisher. Published under the sanction of the Vermont Anti-Slavery Society. " q l KNAPP Editor
. , -- ' ,.
VOL OIK I. KIOSTPELIER, VERMONT, 30, 1S3. itJlKEU 48i
rm ran m rin ss t-a -m v-i W-i ri h-n. --- rr TEN TT?
From the Emancipator.
A Third Political Party
Brother Leavitt. It is auite Manifest that th
abolitionists throughout the country understand
that the editor of the Emancipator is decidedly in
in unr Of i distinct nolitical party, and many ol
them believe, that as the paper is the organ of the
Executive Committee, they, or n majority , ni itiM,
coincide with you. It is mie you have explained
the matter and assured the readers ot the &man
cipator that you have expressed only your own
views on the subject, owi, iiuiwiuisiuuumg m
Executive Committee have, Q3 yet, taken no ac
lion on the subject, it will be generally understood
ihnt the Emancipator speaks the sentiments of
the committee. Permit me, therefore, as a mem
ber of that committee, to $Ty that it appears to
trie highly objectionable to form ft distinct politi
eal nartv not as our friend Alvan Stewart inti
mates, because those who thus express themselves
arc not weaned from old party attachments- -but
for the following, among other reasons :
1. It was not contemplated at the formation of
the American Anti-blavery society.
2. The society have disclaimed, from the be
winning, any such intention.
3. We should lose our hold upon the public-
conscience as moral reformers.
4. It would be thought, and in many instances
lustlv, that we were not disinterested in advoca
ting the cause of the slave and the free people of
color, but were aiming' after the distinctions and
emoluments of office.
5. It would appear to multitudes that we had
lost our confidence in moral suasion and appeals
to the consciences and hearts of men, and our con
fidence in the God of the oppressed.'
6. Because we should become less influential
with the great body of voters of both parties, be
tween which we shall soon hold the balance of
power our moral, force being greatly superior to
our numerical force.
7. Because associating with political agitators,
and employing even the best political machinery,
would dilute, so to speak, the quality of our anti-
slavery feelings, faith and zeal.
8. Because it would be taking hold of the mat
ter wrong end foremost as moral reformers may
change the character of political partisans, but
co itical oartizans are not wont to etlcct moral
revolutions.
9. Because it is but a part of our object to
brine: about the emancipation of the slaves by the
political action1 of Congress, as it regards the
Districts, and by the political action of the States,
within their respective jurisdictions as we aim
to brim? slaveholder to repentance of the sin of
slaveholding, which will be lost sight of in seper
ate political action. "
10. Because the constitution of man is such
that political action, as it regards the leaders, es
pecially, is apt to be an absorbing principle to the
neglect of moral and religious effort.
11. Because the policy already pursued, lias,
in many sections of the country, taught politi
cians that they must set up candidates who will
Vote for emancipation, and the political equality of
the free people of color, or they will not gain the
Votes of abolitionists, or elect their candidates.
12. Because there is reason to believe that per
severance in the determination to vote irrespective
of party, will command the respect, excite the
feaf3, and ultimately bring to terms the leaders in
both of the present great political parties of the
country.
13. Because the attempt to form a distinct politi
cal party would, instead of purifying the politics
of the country, throw into the front rank of the anti-slavery
cause men who are aspiring to office,
and enlist the. activity of multitudes who care lit
tle for the sin of slavery, of the moral and reli
gious improvement of the slaveholder, or the en
slaved and thus instead of purifying the politi
cal atmosphere, and inducing the people to vote
from moral principle, there would be dangerjof di
minishing the moral feelings of the friends of hu
man rights.
14. Because we should lose, to a great degree,
the sympathy, prayers, and aid of abolitionists in
other countries, if we descend from our present
position, as, experience has taught them that the
anti-slavery cause has prospered when abolition
ists have kept aloof from political partyism.
15. Because we should necessarily array
against us all the feelings of leading politicians
throughout the country, whereas, by not adopting
a seperate organization, numbers ot the different
parties can act in concert with us on this subject,
retaining their present predilections on other sub
jects. .
Allow me to add, that, in this city there are
other objections peculiar to this place.
16. Our numerical force is comparatively small
-though far from being so small as the aggre
gate of abolition votes thrown, in the estimation
of opponents, indicates and will probably con
tinue to be small until the country is regenerated,
as large cities are the theatres of physical but not
of moral revolutions.
17. The annual disclosures of our small nu
merical force, at the central place of action, ne
cessarily carries the impression that our moral
force is proportionably weak, whereas a small
number of active and unyielding abolitionists,
with the means entrusted to them, at the centre of
uicigii minim luiciuciRc, llluy, wun me
blessing of God, set in motion the physical, intel
lectual and moral energies of hundreds of thou
sands dispersed over the country.
IS. Defeat, in so large a city, is calculated to i
dishearten coadjutors in other parts of the Union,
and to encourage opponents, more than the defeat
of ten times the numerical strength of abolition
ists elsewhere.
. And permit me to say, that I have some per
sonal reasons in addition to the foregoing
1. The following resolution wa3 adopted at the
fifth annual meeting (1838) on my motion.
Resolved, That we shall deprecate the organ
ization of any abolition political party, but that
we recommend to abolitionists throughout the
country to interrogate candidates for office with
reference to their opinions on subjects connected
with the abolition of slavery, and to vote irrespec
tive of party for those only who will advocate" the
principles ol universal liberty."
2. I have strenuously asserted, for years, that
it was no part ot the design or policy ot abolition
ists to form a distinct political party, and that
could not retain my situation in the Executive
Committee, if such a material change was to take
place in the measures of the society; and I was
among the large majority at the National Conven
tion at Albany, that opposed the project of politi
cal organization, but resolved that we would vote
only for those who are for immediate emancipa
tion, and deemed it my duty, recently, in this city,
to oppose the adoption ol an abolition ticket.
Now, dear brother, I have not the vanity to
suppose that the foregoing are all the reasons, or
all the principal reasons, that should deter aboli
tionists from forming a third political party, nor
have I the presumption to think that they are of
equal weight, or that very p.ir.isible objections
cannot be brought against some or all of them
But I may be allowed to say, that the reasons, on
the other s!de offered by those experienced politi
cians, luyron lloiley ana Alvan Stewart, iisqrs.,
(the first in the Kochester r reeman, and the oth
er recently in this city,) have failed to convince
me, and many other abolitionists who have lore-
sworn alt allegiance with either the democratic
or whig parties, mat it is either good policy or
sound wisdom, to abandon the high, disinterested
and morally sublime ground orginally taken, and
lor so long a time pursued, by the members of the
American Anti-Slavery Society, and come down
to the organization of a distinct political party.
Both of these distinguished gentlemen have prov
ed, with great force of reasoning, that a moral
obligation rests upon every abolitionist to vote
to vote for good men and true but neither of
them have, so far as I have seen, given cogent
reasons why seperate political action is necessary,
expedient or obligatory.
With esteem, your associate,
and fellow laborer,
? LEWIS TAPPAN.
M r. Pierpoint and the Ilollis Street Church.
The enemies, not of exciting liquors or excited
mobs.but exciting qvestions,x the Hollis st. church
voted to request their pastor to ask a dismission
le woUid not, and gave strong reasons ; at the
same time proposing to refer subjects of difference
to a mutual council. The enemies of discussion,
of course they wanted no council. As their last
move, they have held a meeting, and appointed
committee to devise the thing to be done. A
majority of that committee reported a vote to
dismiss the pastor summarily and peremptorily
That vote was to be acted on the 11th of Novem
ber. The majority report, as against one of the
most distinguished ornaments of his city and
country, a man who honors his church more
than it could possibly honor him, is a curiosity.
It deserves to be bottled up in some great "corner
stone as a specimen of pro-rum and pro-slavery
literature and logic We give a sample of it.
Here is at least one abolitionist who is a man of
more than one idea '; and it would seem from
their list of exciting topics that the Hollis street
folks want a pastor without any ideas at all.
They say
it is well known that he was settled as our
minister with the understanding, as in like cases,
that we should receive his undivided attention ;
having, as all will allow, an unusually large
salary, at least for those days and while he con
ned hiiiif.elf to his ministerial duties, it is believ
ed that no fault was found but when his atten
tion was drawn from those duties by the making
of boohs, and the manufacture of stoves, and screws,
and razor straps and by his entering into every
exciting topic that the ingenuity of the fanatic at
home, or the imported mountebank could coniure
up to distract and, disturb the public mind, such
as imprisonment for debt, the militia law, anti
masonry, phrenology, temperance, and last of all,
and above ail, the abolition of slavery, a cjuestion
Inch threatens more than all else the destruc
tion of our Glorious Union, it would be wonder
ful indeed if his people were made of such mate
rials as to sit quietly and tolerate such freedom.
We believe, that i! the public were to decide the
question, it would say, at once, that no man could
follow all these occupations and. attend, day and
night, to nil these exciting subjects, and still be a
faithful minister of the Gospel." Mass. Abo.
Mr. Pierpoint, in his reply, goes at full length
into the discussion of all these topics, Which he
handles in a masterly and satisfactory manner,
calculated to make his enemies feel exceedingly
ashamed. Our limits allow room only for his re
marks on the Cth of the " exciting topics."
SLAVERY.
No. G. ' Last of all, and above all, the aboli
tion of slavery, a question which threatens more
than all else, the destruction of our Glorious
Union.'
" I cannot but think, gentlemen, that in this
cause of offence, the fears of your colleagues, that
ook belore, are stronger, than their facts that lie
behind them. What are the facts in this case?
he abolition of slavery has never by me, been
made the subject of discussion in my pulpit, in
any such sense as is ordinarily conveyed by the
term, discussion. It has, in a very few instances,
been alluded to, or named, in connexion with oth-
questions of public interest, and, on one occa
sion, not in a sermon, in slating to my people
some considerations that had prevented me from
discussing, or discoursing at large upon, the sub
ject of anti-slavery, I made a brief declaration of
sentiments upon it, merely, as 1 told them nt the
time, to show that 1 hod no concealments, but ra
ther wished to have it understood exactly what my
reelings upon that ' question were, lhese I sta
ted in the following words, as nearly as I could
afterwards write them down, ' If I am asked
whether I am abolitionist or not. my answer will
depend upon what is meant by " an abolitionist."
If the inquirer means a member of any society,
association or party, organized for the abolition of
slavery as a political parly.I am not an abolitionist.
But if, by " an abolitionist," he means one who
has a most cordial detestation of slavery, in all its
phrases and forms personal and domestic, politi
cal and spiritual,-and one who, with this feeling,
would have all forms of slavery Immediately abol
ished, I am an abolitionist. For, so utterly do I
detest slavery, that, were it to depend upon my
single voice, this day's sun should not set tin a
slave upon the face of the whole earth. And, for
this single reason; that slavery is a violation of
the eternal law of God ; and I believe that what'
ever good things" it is the good pleasure of God
that his creatures should enjoy upon earth, they
can better secure by keeping his laws than by
breaking them. I have not yet felt it to be my
duty to preach upon this subject j and I make this
declaration merely because, upon this or any oth
er, I desire no concealment of my opinion from
my people. When I do feel it my duty to preac
upon this subject, I shall feel myself free to do so
and shall try to preach so as to be understood
" That is all of my abolition vreachins. ' That
is what I said then. I say it now ; only adding.
that, as circumstances and times change, the
pressure of duty will be felt more or less irnpera
lively to touch in the pulpit upon this momentou
question.
" 1 learned, soon alter this declaration ol senti
ments, that I had given offence by it. Very well
I thought it very likely I might give offence by it
uut u l gave orieiice to others teelings, 1 gave
vent to my own ; and so long as I can give vent
to my own feelings, by expressing them plainly
others may give vent to theirs, by finding fault
with me.
But why this sensitiveness now ? More than
nineteen years ago, when the great question was
befo.re Congress whether Missouri should be ad
mitted to " our glorions Union," with the curse of
slavery entailed upon her, a fervent prayer went
up, from Hollis street pulpit, that that black cloud
might be permitted to overshadow no more, than
t then darkened, oi our great and good land.
At that time, there was enough of the love of lib
erty-, and consequently of the hatred of slavery
alive among us, to make it impossible for the Kep
resentative of Boston feelings and interests, in the
Congress of the United States, to show himself in
State street, on his retur.i from Washington, with
out meeting some manifestation of the indignant
feeling that he had excited among his constituents
by his vote on that question. At that time, there
was no intimation, from any quarter, that an anti
slavery prayer did not go up as fervently from the
people's hearts, as it did from the pastor's lips.
lhen the extension of slavery threatened the in
tegrity of our glorious union. Now, nothing is so
dangerous as its abolition'. The former was then
the ' exciting topic ;' the latter now. Have God's
laws altered since that time or is it the people's
hearts? When a few more Ireemen shall have
been shot down, at the side of the printing press
by the minions of slavery; a few millions more of
a free people's petitions trampled under foot by
their own servants at Washington; and a few more
free citizens of Massachusetts kidnapped for the
slave shambles of Virginia, the people of Boston
will begin to think that ihey have something to do
with slavery; and if the clergy will have nothing
to do with it, they will have nothing to do with
the clergy.
" As to the fears of the committee, that look for
ward to a dissolution of' our glorious Union,' ns
the effect of the anti-slavery question, I am happy
to say that I do npt sympathize in them. The
few fears that I have, are all on the other side.
While, in this country, there can be sustained a
free press, and a free pulpit, I have no fears for the
Kepublic. At any rate, this nation, like every
other, has less to fear from its righteousness than
from its wrongs. Dissolution of the Union for
sooth! afraid of that, yet not afraid of muzzling
the pulpit, and shackling the press, in a land whose
greatest boast is its freedom, and whose Only secu
rity, its virtue ! Dissolution of the Union, by those
to whom their union with the free States gives
hats, shoes, and daily bread, and, after all, only a
catnap sort of sleep ! When I see the merchant
man at the JJalize cut herself loose from the steam-
et that tugs her up to N. Orleans ; the woodman
chop off the limb that he stands upon ; the town
pauper dissolve his glorious union with the select
men ; or the honest tar, that has fallen overboard,
apply his jack-knife, with his left ha,:d, to the rope
that he holds on to, with his right, then shall I
begin to fear that the slave States of Ameiica,
will really recede from their union with the free.
At all events, union or no unoin, I will never be a
slave myself, for feaf another man will not stay a
lave. Yet, if I must be either a pulpit slave or a
plantation slave send mo to the plantation!"
It is honorable both to Mr. Pierpoint and to a
Boston congregation, to record, that this bold and
manly reply gained the victory. At the meeting
held on the 11th, the motion to dismiss the pastor
was rejected by a majority of lbN, viz. yeas 59,
nays 69. The former vote of censure was then
rescinded, and a vote passed, that, " as a society,
we will endeavor to sustain the freedom and inde
pendence of our pulpit, as illustrated in his past
ministrations," This was adopted by a vote of
by to o, the opposers having retired after their de
feat. It was underwood that Mr. Pierpoint would
resume his pastoral labors last Sabbath, in his
FREE PULPIT,, while the disaffected would
ook for the consolations of a " rum gospel" from
a " pulpit slave" elsewhere. Emxncipalor.
France Slavery. The subject of the aboli
tion of Slavery in the dependencies of France has
for some years been agitated among the people
of that nation. The time has now arrived when
action seems to be determined upon. There is
a spirit awake among all nations that will not
slumber till the last vjstlge of slavery is swept
from the earth. A letter from Paris, dated Oct.
15, to the New York Commercial, says:
' M Le locqueville, in the name of a com-
rnitti?e of the Chamber of Deputies, has reported
on the abolition of slavery in the French Colonies.
The report concludes by recommending that
measure, as follows :
" Youf committee has been unanimously of
opinion that the time has arrived for the final abo
lition of slavery in our colonies; and has exam
ined as to the best means of effecting the object.
One plan is to emancipate the slaves by slow de
grees the other to emancipate them all at once
and absolutely.
" Your committee, after mature inquiry, nnd
consideration, aro unanimously of opinion, that
t!:e simultaneous emancipation presents fewer in
conveniences and less peril than the gradual plan ;
and tins also seems to be the opinion of the col
onics.
" Your committee therefore conclude that,
In the session oflS41 a bill should be brought
in for the general and simultaneous abolition of
slavery in the French Colonies.
That the slaveholders should receive an indem
ruficaiion for which the stale shall be reimbursed
by tax on the wages of the liberated slaves.
That the bill should establish regulations for
insuring the labor of the liberated slaves, and for
enlightening and preparing them for free labor,
From the Emancipator.
Preaching against Slavery.
To the Clergy of the courtry :
Dear Brethren, Can any minister of the gos
pel in the United States be accounted faithful,
without preaching to his oivn people against the
sins oi slavery 5 xn writing on inis street, it is
rather a discouraging circumstance that any of the
brethren for whose improvement ihe subject
discussed, siiouiu say : " 1 do not expect to get
any more light on the subject." It seems to im
ply, either li.at they have all the information that
can be had, or that they are predetermined not to
receive any more. In either case we may well
be excused in just reminding all such, that if their
opinions nnd practices relating to this subject are
not perlectly correct, they are most inexcusable
either lor wiltui ignorance, or tor acting against
such perfect knowledge. If any one of vou feel
disinclined to attend further to the subject, by rea
son of preconceived opinions, I request vou just
to review with me for a few moments, in this num
ber, some of the grounds of those opinions as
have often heard them expressed, that, if possible,
I may gain a hearing to what may be hereafter
said in favor of the duty above suggested.
1. That the apostles recognize no such rela
tions. Servant or debtor, is not the name appro
priated and limited to persons who suffer unjust
oppression or slavery, ror it so, then we, as
ministers of Christ, are slsves to Him. It is true
that we are under his entire control and authori
ty : but as he is a perfetcly just and kind master,
his service is not slavery, but perfect liberty. But
no sinful man is to be trusted with the absolute
control of a fellow man. All servants were not
slaves in the days of the apostles; and the word
servant has no such inclining. It has always been
as common a thing in the east ol Asia, for men to
make slaves of their wives, as it is now for south
ern men to make slaves of their servants. There
fore, we might as well say the word wife in scrip
ture, means a siave, as that the word servant does
recognizing the marriage relation and regula
ting its duties; is as much a connivance at slavery.
as doing the same with regard to the relation of
master and servant. Enslaving is usurping and
abusing the master's relution and power, which the
scriptures every where forbid. If we say the
apostles winked at the sin of slavery, every time
they exhorted masters and servants to do right
why not say with the same propriety also that they
winked at all the cruel persecutions which the
Emperor Nero inflicted on his Christian subjects,
every time they pointed out the duties of their re
luuuns x ne relation oi creditor and debtor is
also spoken of in the scripture, and the duties of
it regulated. But does this imply an approbation
of all the cruel laws that then existed in ihe Ro-
man empire against (ieoiors, sucn as allowing
ii. i I,.
creditors to chop up the body of ah insolvent debt
or and divide it among them ? But allowing that
the scripture word servant, always meas slave
then I answer,
M. lo this argument lor ministerial silence on
the subject, that the duties enjoined on the master
required him lo put off this relation. ' Masters,
says the apostle, give unto your servants that
which is just and eqiiol. If they can do this and
yet retain their slaves, as such, then let us all yield
me poini mat slavery is rig in, and say no more
about it. If ihe servants here spoken of are sup
posed lo be slaves, and it the text is supposed to
imply that their masters might give them all their
rights, and yet continue to be slaveholders re
laining the same relation as ma?ter and slave,
which is said to be recognized and tolerated, ther.
let us interpret'all the scripture in the ame man
ner, as, lor instance, sinners are commanded to
repent. Therefore, their relation as rebel-sinners
against God is recognized and approved by point
ing out duties for them to perform ircthat relation.
And therefore they may repent, and yet sustain
the same relation to their Maker, as rebel-sinners.
ihe same may no said oi unbelievers who are
commanded to believe. . The harlot Rahab could
hide the spies by faith and be a harlot still ; and
publicans nnd sinners may go into the kingdom of
Heaven and be publicans and sinners there. How
desperate is the cause that needs to be supported
by such arguments as this.
Clericus Senior.
Extract of a letter recently received
from London. " American Slavery as it IsV is
not only well received, but is doing good ; f f" there
are Still those who say that a " false coloring" has
been thrown around the slave system ; such,
though professedly opposed to slavery, have nev
er fell bound, with those who are bound. "The
testimony of a thousand witnesses" presets the
system disrobed--in all its naked deformity cov
erless, save in the drippings of blood, its native
dress. I hope and expect it will be reviewed by
some master hand and come back to you, send
ing back its wailings until there shall be melting
of hearts. Emancipator.
Great Britain and Texas. The Committee
of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society
has memorialized the the government of Great
Briiian dgainst the recognition of the independence
of Texas. The British Emancipator, in an arti
cle on the subject, says :
" Humanity bleeds on contemplating slavery as
a fact of the past ; it is dreadful to see it origina
ting anew. A nascent people ordaining slavery
should hrive met with not a moment's toleration ;
they should have been frowned and trodden oiit of
being by the united scorn and resistance of the
civilized world. Wo hope Ihe government of
England at least will do its datyj arid not, for rea
sons which must be paltry in the comparison,
Itnd us helping hand to a people in whose growth
ihere will also grow every thing which freedom
abhors, which justice denounces, which humani
ty shudders at-eVcry thing which, in any other
quarter bf the World, British weallh, power, anti
life has been prodigally expended lo dectroy.
Will not every Englishman's bosom echo to the
sentiment, Let Texas never be acknowledged by
England till her population be JYee.
From the Emancipator.
Mr. Birney's Emancipation Act Examined.
I have noticed, of late, in some of the public
journals among them the Vermont Chronicle
and the New Haven Record, extracts from which
were republished in the last Emancipator some
thing of a controversy on the question, whether
Mr. Birney, in receiving his late father's slaves;
with a view to their immediate emancipation, did
not make himself a slaveholder and depart from
the principles of the Anti-Slavery Society.
This controversy reminds me of another part
and parcel of the present not less important,
which wo had U) engage in at an early stage of
the anti-slavery movement with some of our pugi
nacious opponents, who seemed chiefly to value
themselves for their skill in hair-splitting. They
brought us up completely at least, so they
thought on the word, " immediate,'' as applied
to the when of emancipation. " What !" said a
learned gentleman, since made a D. D. by a pro
slavery college, in debate " do you allow of noth
ing preparative for the act of emancipation ? I
suppose, then, it I should nnd my ox fallen into
a ditch, and it should become my dutyt as it is, to
extricate him, you would have me do it ifnmedx-
ately nol allowing even time enough to run as
fast as my legs would carry me to the house for
a rope to haul him out with ? The argument
contained in this illustration-ahd to be found in
the thousand and one illustrations equally perti
nent and conclusive, which our sagacious adver
saries keep always on hand ready for use hai
been deemed by them, up to the present day, un
answered and Unanswerable. Yet, strange to
tell, the controversy has passed away, arid although
they remain, as they think in possession of the
giound, the whole country at least all the sober.
sensible part of it agree with the abolitionists,
and perfectly understand what is meant by imme-
diale emancipation, bo, in all likelihood; it will
be with the controversy now bn hand.
In what I have read on the affirmative side of
the qestion about Mr. Birney's conduct, there is
much that is obscure indistinct unsatis!yiii,j;
The conclusion to which the" writers affect, them;
selves, to be brought, is rather an independent as
sertion, than the legitimate consequence of their
premises. Their obscure views are owing, I think,
to a mistake a fundamental one into which
they have fallen. They consider szveholding es
something passive aad not as an uninterrupted
series a continuous succession of acts 'of force;
either real or constructive, by which the slavehold
er maintains his usurpation. Now the slavehold- '
er must do to the slave what may be necessarv tr
holdhim in bonds-or, hij must inspire him with
dread, that he will do it, if the slave once niovtf
toward assuming any of his rights now merged
in his servile condition, or, appropriated by the"
. 'aveholder himself. . If one or the btherbf these
things be not effected by the slaveholder there
being neither actual force, nor the apprehensions
ofiti to prevent the slave, of consequence, be
comes free, and may walk abroad and do for him
self. With this principle to guide us.a verv bripf staii:
ment will serve, if I mistake not, to dispel the mist
which has gathered about Ihe minds of Ihe object
tors.
Let us suppose, that A. migrates to Kentuckv:
where there exists a law empowering all of his
complexion lo use acts of force adequate to the eni
slavement ot such ot the inhabitants as are of a
different complexion ; that, using the white man's
perogative, A. possesses himsf.lf of some twenty
or more of them and dies intestate leaving w4
will suppose, in order to nvoid confusioh.) but Dng
heir at law, B., who resides in New York;
Let us fix the precise state into which the
slaves fall nt the decease of A. If the t.au-
made no provision, as to who might occupy the
place of force in relation to the slaves, now va
cant, they would, of course, go free-, there beincr
no one to prevent it. But the law does make
provision ; it conters it (not on a. by name, but)
on the heir at law, whomsoever, on due inquiry,
he may turn out to be. In the interval between
the decease of A. and the completing of this in
quiry instituted by the law, the State regards and
retains the slaves as slaves; and would continue
lo do so, even if B., before he was ascertaind to b
the heir at law, or afterwafd;-, should declare, hi
would hot move in the matter any way. It is
the State, then, that potentially holds the slaves"
in the interval between the decease of A. and the"
identification of the heir at law; whoever does
it actually is but its agent; The State does this
for two reasons: It assists in keeping her "sys
tem compact, by preventing the introduction nf
distributing force; and she has a cbhtinbent.
interest in the property, to accrue on the nonuser
of it by B; for should be, after his identity as
heir nt law has been duly established, persist in
not exercising a master's control over the slaves;
they may be apprehended, as going at large a
gainst Ihe law or taken up as " Runaways" by
the first white man whom they meet cast intd
jail and eventually, inform, sold lb someone who
will exercise the master s control the price paid
for l hem goin-g, in some way, to the public;
If the State ofKentlicky disallowed altogether
td her citizens as some of the slveholding state
do the right lo emancipate, she might be consid
ered as, in effect, thus addressing B. on his beini?
ascertained to be heir at law : " Either yok must
come into the place of force, which I am rcaly td
relinquish to you, or I (the State) will.. Continue
in it." The only reply which B;, w)th k good con
science ns one opposed to slavery,- could make,
would be , tvholly to reject the proposition
letting the iniquity rest on the actual perpetrator?.
But the Constitution of Kentucky Secures to the
citizens the right to emancipate ; laws havo been