Part 254 (1/2)
”Gray Plymouth Rock hath yet a tongue, and Concord is not dumb; And voices from our fathers' graves and from the future come: They call on us to stand our ground--they charge us still to be Not only free from chains ourselves, but foremost to make free!”
It is of little consequence who is on the throne, if there be behind it a power mightier than the throne. It matters not what is the theory of the government, if the practice of the government be unjust and tyrannical. We rise in rebellion against a despotism incomparably more dreadful than that which induced the colonists to take up arms against the mother country; not on account of a three-penny tax on tea, but because fetters of living iron are fastened on the limbs of millions of our countrymen, and our most sacred rights are trampled in the dust. As citizens of the State, we appeal to the State in vain for protection and redress. As citizens of the United States, we are treated as outlaws in one half of the country, and the national government consents to our destruction. We are denied the right of locomotion, freedom of speech, the right of pet.i.tion, the liberty of the press, the right peaceably to a.s.semble together to protest against oppression and plead for liberty--at least in thirteen States of the Union. If we venture, as avowed and unflinching abolitionists, to travel South of Mason and Dixon's line, we do so at the peril of our lives. If we would escape torture and death, on visiting any of the slave States, we must stifle our conscientious convictions, bear no testimony against cruelty and tyranny, suppress the struggling emotions of humanity, divest ourselves of all letters and papers of an anti-slavery character, and do homage to the slaveholding power--or run the risk of a cruel martyrdom! These are appalling and undeniable facts.
Three millions of the American people are crushed under the American Union! They are held as slaves--trafficked as merchandise--registered as goods and chattels! The government gives them no protection--the government is their enemy--the government keeps them in chains!
There they lie bleeding--we are prostrate by their side--in their sorrows and sufferings we partic.i.p.ate--their stripes are inflicted on our bodies, their shackles are fastened on our limbs, their cause is ours! The Union which grinds them to the dust rests upon us, and with them we will struggle to overthrow it!
The Const.i.tution, which subjects them to hopeless bondage, is one that we cannot swear to support! Our motto is, ”NO UNION WITH SLAVEHOLDERS,” either religious or political. They are the fiercest enemies of mankind, and the bitterest foes of G.o.d! We separate from them not in anger, not in malice, not for a selfish purpose, not to do them an injury, not to cease warning, exhorting, reproving them for their crimes, not to leave the peris.h.i.+ng bondman to his fate--O no! But to clear our skirts of innocent blood--to give the oppressor no countenance--to signify our abhorrence of injustice and cruelty--to testify against an unG.o.dly compact--to cease striking hands with thieves and consenting with adulterers--to make no compromise with tyranny--to walk worthily of our high profession--to increase our moral power over the nation--to obey G.o.d and vindicate the gospel of his Son--hasten the downfall of slavery in America, and throughout the world!
We are not acting under a blind impulse. We have carefully counted the cost of this warfare, and are prepared to meet its consequences.
It will subject us to reproach, persecution, infamy--it will prove a fiery ordeal to all who shall pa.s.s through it--it may cost us our lives. We shall be ridiculed as fools, accused as visionaries, branded as disorganizers, reviled as madmen, threatened and perhaps punished as traitors. But we shall bide our time. Whether safety or peril, whether victory or defeat, whether life or death be ours, believing that our feet are planted on an eternal foundation, that our position is sublime and glorious, that our faith in G.o.d is rational and steadfast, that we have exceeding great and precious promises on which to rely, THAT WE ARE IN THE RIGHT, we shall not falter nor be dismayed, ”though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea,”--though our ranks be thinned to the number of ”three hundred men.” Freemen! are you ready for the conflict? Come what may, will you sever the chain that binds you to a slaveholding government, and declare your independence?
Up, then, with the banner of revolution! Not to shed blood--not to injure the person or estate of any oppressor--not by force and arms to resist any law--not to countenance a servile insurrection--not to wield any carnal weapons! No--ours must be a bloodless strife, excepting _our_ blood be shed--for we aim, as did Christ our leader, not to destroy men's lives, but to save them--to overcome evil with good--to conquer through suffering for righteousness' sake--to set the captive free by the potency of truth!
Secede, then, from the government. Submit to its exactions, but pay it no allegiance, and give it no voluntary aid. Fill no offices under it. Send no senators or representatives to the national or State legislature; for what you cannot conscientiously perform yourself, you cannot ask another to perform as your agent. Circulate a declaration of DISUNION FROM SLAVEHOLDERS, throughout the country.
Hold ma.s.s meetings--a.s.semble in conventions--nail your banners to the mast!
Do you ask what can be done, if you abandon the ballot-box? What did the crucified Nazarene do without the elective franchise? What did the apostles do? What did the glorious army of martyrs and confessors do? What did Luther and his intrepid a.s.sociates do? What can women and children do? What has Father Mathew done for teetotalism?
What has Daniel O'Connell done for Irish repeal? ”Stand, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breast-plate of righteousness,” and arrayed in the whole armor of G.o.d!
The form of government that shall succeed the present government of the United States, let time determine. It would be a waste of time to argue that question, until the people are regenerated and turned from their iniquity. Ours is no anarchical movement, but one of order and obedience. In ceasing from oppression, we establish liberty.
What is now fragmentary, shall in due time be crystallized, and s.h.i.+ne like a gem set in the heavens, for a light to all coming ages.
Finally--we believe that the effect of this movement will be,--First, to create discussion and agitation throughout the North; and these will lead to a general perception of its grandeur and importance.
Secondly, to convulse the slumbering South like an earthquake, and convince her that her only alternative is, to abolish slavery, or be abandoned by that power on which she now relies for safety.
Thirdly, to attack the slave power in its most vulnerable point, and to carry the battle to the gate.
Fourthly, to exalt the moral sense, increase the moral power, and invigorate the moral const.i.tution of all who heartily espouse it.
We reverently believe that, in withdrawing from the American Union, we have the G.o.d of justice with us. We know that we have our enslaved countrymen with us. We are confident that all free hearts will be with us. We are certain that tyrants and their abettors will be against us.
In behalf of the Executive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society,
WM. LLOYD GARRISON, _President_.
WENDELL PHILLIPS, } _Secretaries_.
MARIA WESTON CHAPMAN, }
_Boston, May_ 20, 1844.
LETTER FROM FRANCIS JACKSON.
BOSTON, 4TH July, 1844
_To His Excellency George N. Briggs_:
SIR--Many years since, I received from the Executive of the Commonwealth a commission as Justice of the Peace. I have held the office that it conferred upon me till the present time, and have found it a convenience to myself, and others. It might continue to be so, could I consent longer to hold it. But paramount considerations forbid, and I herewith transmit to you my commission, respectfully asking you to accept my resignation.