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compos mentis, or an idiot. Every intelligent being in the universe of God, can do right; and no man in the world can be compelled by law, or circumstances, to do wrong.

2. That the master, so far as he is personally concerned, should immediately offer to employ those whom he has held as his property, as free hired laborers; he should not turn them loose upon society, uncared for and unprotected, but he should treat them as men, and give them the liberty of choice, whether to remain in his employ at fair wages,

or not.

3. So far as the State is concerned, it should annihilate the right of man to hold man as property; and all who are now slaves should be immediately brought under the protection and restraint of suitable and impartial laws. But the want of action on the part of any State government, should not and need not hinder any one from doing his duty as above described, any more than the want of laws in Massachusetts should hinder any one from ceasing to manufacture and use intoxicating liquors. Laws will be enacted for the suppression of intemperance in each of the States, just as soon as the habits of the people and public opinion call for them; nor indeed would they be of much use, were they to be enacted before this; and just so with regard to slavery, when the habits of the people, and public opinion are sufficiently set against the sin of slave. holding, the States where slavery exists will commence legislation upon the subject.

CHAPTER XII.

EXPLANATION.

"Emancipation from slavery does not confer the right of suffrage, but we contend that colored persons should be allowed its exercise, as soon as they possess the qualifications required of other citizens. They should also be aided and countenanced in their endeavors, by moral and intellectual culture, to become respectable and useful members of society.

We do not ask that they shall be harrassed, and the country burdened by an oppressive and vexatious system of apprenticeship for grown men, as in Jamaica-but that they shall be employed as free laborers and paid equal and just wages, as in Ber muda and Antigua, where they are industrious and happy, and their employer safe and prosperous.

By the abolition of slavery we mean simply the repeal of the iniquitous slave code-the abolition of the unrighteous things wherein slavery consists— the restoration of men from the condition of 'chattels' to the condition of rational beings. If there are any reasons why this abolition should not take place now, they are reasons which will be equally valid, in all future time. And they are reasons urged against the inalienable rights of man, and the immutable laws of God!"-R. I. A. Slavery Convention.

CHAPTER XIII.

FACTS DEMONSTRATING THE SAFETY OF IMMEDIATE AND UNCONDITIONAL EMANCIPATION.

"To say that immediate emancipation is not safe, is to say that it is not safe for human beings to obey their Creator.

To deny the safety of immediate emancipation, is to doubt the first principles of common sense-the operations of moral cause and effect-and the testimony of universal experience and history. The writings of Clarkson and Stuart have triumphantly established this point, and the world has been challenged in vain to produce an instance of starvation or bloodshed, in consequence of emancipation.

To say that immediate emancipation is not safe, is to say that it is not safe for human beings to be free! It is to say, what the despots of all ages and nations have said, and still say that the laboring classes of mankind are incapable of self-government, and ought to be kept under the control of their superiors!"-R. I. A. Convention.

St. Domingo.

A civil war broke out in this Island, in June, 1793, between the republicans and planters. The latter called in the aid of Great Britain; upon which the republicans proclaimed immediate freedom to about six hundred thousand slaves, and armed them against their foes. No evil consequences followed;

every thing went on prosperously till eight years afterwards, when the French planters attempted to seduce the blacks again to slavery.

Gaudaloupe.

In 1794, eighty-five thousand slaves were set free in this Island, where there was a population of only thirteen thousand whites. No disasters followed.

Republic of Columbia.

All the slaves who had fought for this republic were emancipated in 1821.

Slavery was abolished in Mexico in 1829. No insurrections followed as the consequence.

Cape Colony.

Thirty thousand Hottentots were emancipated here in 1823, with perfect safety.

British West Indies.

It would much exceed our limits to give a minute account of emancipation in each of these islands. On the 1st of Aug. 1834, the British Parliament emancipated eight hundred thousand slaves in the dependencies of that government. In each of the islands except Antigua and Bermuda, a system of apprenticeship was adopted; but in these, thirtyfour thousand six hundred and fifty slaves were set instantly and unconditionally free, and not the slightest difficulty has followed.

In the other islands, which adopted a gradual system of émancipation, the slaves have not done as

well as those who were set unconditionally free, but in no island has any thing occurred to confirm the fears entertained by the slaveholders on setting their slaves free. And hence we may boldly affirm, that the experiment which has now been tried for three years in the West India Islands, demonstrates to the civilized world, the duty, and safety of immedi ate, unconditional, and universal emancipation.

Testimony of twenty-four Wesleyan Missionaries. "Resolutions passed at a meeting of the Wesleyan Missionaries of the Antigua District, assembled at St. Johns, Antigua, Feb. 7, 1837.

1. That the emancipation of the slaves of the West Indies, while it was an act of undoubted justice to that oppressed people, has operated most favorably in furthering the triumphs of the gospel, by removing one prolific source of unmerited suspicion of religious teachers, and thus opening a door to their more extensive labors and usefulness-by furnishing a greater portion of time for the service of the negro, and thus preventing the continuance of unavoidable Sabbath desecrations, in labor and neglect of the means of grace-and in its operations as a stimulus to proprietors and other influential gentlemen, to encourage religious education and the wide dissemination of the Scriptures, as an incentive to industry and good order.

2. That while the above statements are true with reference to all the islands, even where the system of apprenticeship prevails, they are especially applicable to Antigua, where the results of the great mea. sure of entire freedom, so humanely and judiciously

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