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SJ. ■ TIE DELAWARE ABOLITIONIST. DEVOTE» TO EMANCIPATION IN DELAWARE. VOL. I. WILMINGTON, DEL. JMÜARY 1, 1848. NO.—2. Publisheil Homi-Monthly, by tlio Dklawa :y Society, ut the Ami-Slavery Utfi w Eleventh slrec*. All c l letter* reluting to buninvaa, should be punt paid, and directed to James H. Iîrookk, Agent. to Kaclu-r Hasset, Treasurer. Anti-Si Market ird i for this pupe Donat i I Fwauty-five conta, strictly in adv ce. Single 'I» SELECTIONS. DIFFICULTIES. We promised two weeks ago, that we would tell a slave-holding correspondent why it was, that he looked only to a certain kind of opposi tion to slavery. Our language was—" we un derstand our friend, and will show him that we do." We proceed accordingly. There is no subject about which there is more dread than slavery. We shrink from it as something which ought not to be discussed. The moment it is introduced in parlor, or of fice, or store, the voice drops to a low whisper, as if treason were lurking near; and when mentioned in the street, men go apart, and see that they cannot be overhead, lest they may draw upon their heads a horrible infliction. What it is we dread, we cannot define. It is before us, palpable as the sun ; yet no can clutch it. It is an airy phantom, seen by all— -felt sensibly by all ; yet not a man of us fix it, or tell how it walks, or how it geesi, •* ** Who »o gross, this palpable device ? says-—he sees it not."' We talk ever and always round about tl«e subject, and qualify as we talk; and qualify still more, if there be opposition, until the ma jority of us stand spell-bound, unwilling to ex press our own convictions, orafraid to hear the utterance of another's thoughts. We fear, yet know not what we fear. Why all this should he, we can understand in par*. Let us examine it. The period between the conception and ful filment of any great deed, is ever a time of anx iety and alarm. No matter what it is,— whether fair or foul,.—it disturbs the bravest spirit, and makes it tremble. 'Lite poet says : " Between the doing of a dreadful thing And the first motion, all the interim is That cannot ! Yet who so bold l a hideous dream ; Like a phantasma, The genius, and the mortal i council ; and the soul of mi ruments, Are then Eke to a little kingdom suffers then insurrection.'' The nature of ; But why the exception. 'Ibis Granted. feeling is not confined to dreadful things , to do good, sometimes is accounted dangerous fol ly ; and the attempt, then, to enforce it, will anxiety, though of a different kind. awaken as intense, and a fear as appalling. The very subject of slavery proves what we say. Independent of this, however, there trinsic difficulties in the way. Emancipation proposes a great change. Men that are well off, fear injury, they that are doing poorly, dread worse evils—from its action. None know what is to bo the result to them ; and, although they may see how the change will benefit city or Sta\e, they tremble lest they in should be sufferers by it. And as to long es tablished habits and usage^those in which we are set, to which we fare attached, and which are part and parcel our second nature, as our vjry nature itself,— why, they must all go, anojnew habits and usages spring up under nevl circumstances.— Can we conform to them ? pan we be happy with them, or under them 1 It is an untried state, and, whatever others'experience may be, dread to test it. It involves a future of un known experiment, and wo .{ling to a present known good and evil, rathelj than plunge into us—not so much it. Besides, Emancipation, wj-en proposed the blood into hundreds of fjbeeKs from causes. There are childrenbf tenderage, wid , young and old, grey-loaded fathers, who have their ail locked up in negro property.— Their hire, schools, clothes t jeeds shelters them. Strip them of it, and they are helplessly poor. How can they sustain a Measure, when such ill may befall them ?—Hjf w help dreading a change, when these, ormgre fearful consequen ces may happen, pathize with them, , starts other And they, and all who sym or expedience kindred feais, say, " we care nothing for your increase of pop ulation and power—your promised greater pros perity—.your railways, and universal education —your wide spread blessings,*under freedom ; —we are happy as w*e are jiand we do not want, and we will not cvpjfchnnge. if we can help it." Now we know, as wc believe, that no inju ry would, or could he wrought against any one of these classes. There i6 not a Kentucky who would not scorn him who seek to strip children, or women, o'* old age, of their support. We do not here look at the ques tion of right : we take the facts simply as they are. By law, they have a certain property in human flesh ; that human flesh toils, and by that toil they live. We wouid acknowledge and undo the wrong, and iQake free the slave and all, in all ild by law ; and then give to owners, lull and adequate compensation. For liberty's sake, we could afford to be jeneroua Ï For the common good, large in oilr bounty ! Nor is there a human being, that we aro acquainted with, in favor of emancipatioh, who would break up old habits, or bring abiut great changes, without seeking, in every way, to prevent evil, inconvenience, or difficulty to any portion of the people in the State. We know this, as do all our friends ; but the parties to whom we refer, da not, therefore theyjthus feel and act. What, now is the conseqaence of all these things—of this general d/ead—this anxiety about the change which emancipation proposes -—this fear of loss of property ? Why, that good men, liko our friend, Mhose letter we quo ted, and to which we replie! in No. 6, keep out of view every consideration except those which every body would admit to be controlling , if they could be proved . This is tlje secret of their ac tion. They want slavery destroyed as much as we do. Their very coQrse proves it. But they argue thus :—" If wè 6ay a word, or use an argument, for freedom, which does not go at once to show that its removal would make all classes better off, pecuniary and socially, we shall defeat ourselves, crpate unnecessary alarm, and retard the progress of the cause, they pass by considerations of a higher charac ter; not that they do not feel them, and would not act upon them, but that the presentation of them, in their view, would do harm. We have stated the difficulties. Next in or- * der comes the question—How shall we remove them 1 Of this, in should like to-, hear from our friend—to know candidly, from him, whether, self, Hence next. Meantime, we regards him are right or wrong. Coni imuilcaf ions. For the Delaware Abolitionist. I was somewhat, surprised at a remark of my friend B. Webb, in the first number of the Abolitionist, and was no little puzzled to com prehend the position he would wish to assume. He says he is " in favor of immediate but, not unconditional emancipation." What condition would he annex to the enjoyment of liberty by the freed-man? Would he, with the coloniza tionist, require that the colored man should be removed to Africa, making that a condition of his enfranchisement, that is a thing necessary to be performed, before he should cease to be a chattel ! Or would he, with the slave-holder of the south, require that freed-man should leavo the Slate, and would he refuse him liberty if he did notcomply with his condition î I know my mena well enough to say thnt I fied it is neither of these. W condition be which he would prescribe. 1 have heard no others suggested in the case ; and the evidently adopted by the "modern abolitionists" to distinguish their plan from that ot the colonizationists, which then had and still possesses a very strong hold upon the feelings and imaginations of the peo ple. saus hat then can the term unconditional 1 am for unconditional emancipation, such as was decreed in Pennsylvania and other, of the Northern States. They did not it is true de cree liberty to all in the first instance, and here in they erred as I think ; but so far as it was given, it wr\s given without condition. It was not even required that the slave should signify his wish to he free. The master's authority over him was made to cease by the mere opera tion of the law, under certain defined circum stances ; cumstances present his own emancipation ; and this is what I wish to see effectually done in Del aware and in every other slave state. No con dition annexed in the ownership of a man's limbs, not even that of good behaviour. If the freed-man injures his neighbor, in person or in property, let him be punished for it as other freemen, hut let him not be made a personal chattel which would be the case if good be haviour was made a condition of emancipation. There may be some who think that the mas ter is entitled to compensation from his freed man for the loss of his value as property ; and that the payment of this compensation by the slave or some person on his behalt should be a condition of his emancipation. But B. W. cannot be of this number, for he says that " every man lias a Tight to his liberty," which is to say in other words that every one who could the slave under these cir-