policy which has governed their sister States, had it been their lot to have embosomed as great a proportion of slaves.

But humanity is the plea. And can gentlemen sincerely believe that the cause of humanity will be promoted by still confining this population within such limits as that their relative numbers will oppose everlasting obstacles to their emancipation? Upon the most extensive principle of philanthropy, I say, let them spread forth with the growing extent of our nation. I am sure I plead the cause of humanity. I advocate the best interests of the sons of bondage, when I entreat you to give them room to be happy; and so disperse them as that, under the auspices of Providence, they may one day enjoy the rights of man, without convulsing the empire or endangering society. We must now take the world as we find it-not as we would have it and adapt our measures to the actual state of things. The cruelties which are passed cannot be retracted; and upon the slave trade we can now only look back with emotions of regret, which have but one balm of consolation to mitigate our sorrows. It is this: that outrages upon humanity may be tolerated in civilized society, which are overruled by I ivine Providence, for the ultimate good of those who were the victims of cruelty. Such has been the consequence of the slave trade; and let it now be our object to make them feel the benefit, since they have not been exempted from the misery.

There is no just cause for irritation on this subject. We should suppress our feelings, when they threaten to transport us beyond the bounds of reason. Early habits beget strong prejudices; and under a heavy burden of them we all labor. But it becomes us to bring them to one common altar, and consume them together. Before we compel our brother to pluck the mote from his eye, it will be wise to take the beam from our own. On this occasion I cannot

omit to mention my own feelings on a former occurrence. When I first came to Congress, it was with mingled emotions of horror and surprise that I saw citizens from the non-slaveholding States, as they are called-yes, and both branches of our National Legislature-riding in a coach and four, with a white servant seated before, managing the reins, another standing behind the coach, and both of these white servants in livery. Is this, said I to myself, the degraded condition of the citizen, on whose voice the liberties of a nation may depend? I could not reconcile it with my ideas of freedom; because, in the State where I received my first impressions, slaves alone were servile. All white men there are on an equality, and every citizen feels his independence. We have no classes-no patrician or plebeian rank. Honesty and honor form all the distinctions that are felt or known. Whatever may be the condition of a citizen with us, you must treat him as an equal. This, I find, is not so in every part of the non-slaveholding States, especially in your populous cities, where ranks and distinctions, the precursors of aristocracy, already begin to exist. They whose business it is to perform menial offices in other States, are as servile as our slaves in the West. Where is the great difference betwixt the condition of him who keeps your stable, who blacks your boots, who holds your stirrups, or mounts behind your coach when you ride, and the slave who obeys the command of his master? There may be a nominal difference; but it would be difficult to describe its reality. In the one case it is called voluntary, because it is imposed by its own necessity, and in the other involuntary, because imposed by the will of another. Whatever difference there may be in the principle, the effects upon society are the same. The condition, in some respects, is in favor of the slave. He is supplied with food and clothing; and in the hour of sickness he finds relief. No anxious cares in relation to age and infirmity, invade his breast. He

fears no duns: careless of the pressure of the times, he dreads not the coercion of payment, nor feels the cruelty of that code which confines the white servant in prison, because the iron hand of poverty has wrested from him the means of support for his family. Though slavery still must be confessed a bitter draught, yet where the stamp of nature marks the distinction, and when the mind, from early habit, is moulded to the condition, the slave often finds less bitterness in the cup of life than most white servants. What is the condition of many, who are continually saluting our ears with cries of want, even in this city? Men, women, boys, girls, from infancy to old age, craving relief from every passenger. Are they slaves? No. Among the slaves are no beggars; no vagrants; none idle for want of employ, or crying for want of bread. Every condition of life has its evils; and most evils have some palliative; though perhaps none less than those of white menials. Yet, sir, none are more lavish of their censures against slavery than those lordlings with livery servants of their own complexion. For my own part, I have hitherto been fortunate in my public course, in having retained the confidence of my fellow citizens. I have not only triumphed over the most troubled elements-I have even braved the storm produced by the famous compensation law; but I never could stand having white servants dressed in livery. No, sir, when the honest laborer, the mechanic, however poor, or whatever his employment, visits my house, it matters not what company is there, he must sit with me at my board, and receive the same treatment as the most distinguished guest; because in him I recognize a fellow citizen and an equal.

The condition of the slave is but little understood by those who are not the eye-witnesses of his treatment. His sufferings are greatly aggravated in their apprehension. The general character of the slaveholding community can

no more be determined, nor should they be any more stigmatized, by a particular instance of cruelty to a slave, than the character of the non-slaveholding community by a particular instance of cruelty in a parent toward his child, a guardian to his ward, or a master to his apprentice. No man among us can be cruel to his slave without incurring the execration of the whole community. The slave is trained to industry; and he is recompensed by kindness and hu manity, which lighten his burden. His master is his guardian. He enjoys the rights of conscience, and worships God as he chooses. The Gospel sheds as bright a lustre on his path as on that of the white man; and quite as great a proportion of them become believers in the Saviour, and are admitted into the communion of the Christian Church.

Except on the sugar, the rice, and the cotton plantations, at the South, the slave is not a profit to his master. Upon a fair calculation of debtor and creditor, the majority of them would fall in debt; and the holding of them is more a matter of convenience than profit.

A solemn appeal has been made to the Declaration of Independence, as if that instrument had a bearing upon this question; though, at that day, and long since, slavery existed in every State of the Union. That sentiment has been quoted, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain equal, inalienable rights; among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This sacred truth should be engraven upon every heart, for it is the foundation of all civil rights, and the palladium of our liberties. The meaning of this sentence is defined in its application; that all communities stand upon an equality; that Americans are equal with Englishmen, and have the right to organize such government for themselves as they shall choose, whenever it is their pleasure to dissolve the bonds which unite them to another people. The same principle applied to Missouri

will defeat the object of gentlemen who advocate this restriction.

Could this principle be reduced to practice in relation to every human being, it would be happy; but such is the character, and such the condition of man, that it is ́perpetually violated by every individual, and by every body politic; often wantonly, sometimes through necessity. Every State in this Confederacy, not even excepting the great and unambitious State of Pennsylvania, violates this principle, if it be understood according to the application given it by gentlemen, in the most important political rights the elective franchise and the qualification for office. The organization of every department, both of the general government and the State governments, infringes upon this principle. Different qualifications are required in different States; in some, a freehold inheritance; and the least, in the most democratic States, are age and residence. And shall we reject a State for this violation of principle? However unfortunate it may be, this great principle of equality, so delightful in theory, is but very partially regarded in practice; and I will not deny the allegation, when it is asserted that necessity often justifies the measure. Then, sir, let imperious necessity, in this case, also prefer its claim to consideration.

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There is a mystery in this anxiety, this excitement of popular commotion on the one hand, and this utter indifference on the other, which it requires a casuist to divine. Is your object the emancipation of slaves? No one pretends that this measure will diminish the number of slaves, unless, by this very singular kind of humanity, you diminish their comfort to such a degree as to prevent the increase of that species of population. Nor is it pretended that the failure of this favorite motion for restriction will enslave a solitary individual of the human race; though we have wit