THE ABOLITION ORGANIZATION BORROWED FROM THE RELIGIOUS WORLD.
We have nothing to do with the merits of the Religious and Benevolent
Society system of this country; it is only necessary for us to allude
to the character, skill, operation, and efficiency of its framework,
to illustrate the fabric of the American Anti-Slavery Society, which
has been constructed precisely after that model. To accomplish the
various objects of the religious and benevolent public, they have
thought it expedient and necessary to erect themselves, by
association, into sundry bodies politic, or incorporations, which
originally were small, but which have gradually grown to considerable
importance. It has been found by experience, that by a skilful
organization, and by an economical application of its means and
agencies, a single Society, enjoying public favor, can operate upon
the whole country, to secure interest, raise money, and carry on its
designs. But the very necessities of the case have put in requisition
a sort of State machinery, which, as is well known, has been erected,
and in some instances extended, on a very large scale; and they are
conducted with as much system, as the affairs of a Nation, not
unfrequently with a superior tact and efficiency, as compared with the
ordinary concerns of the political world. The fact, that rotation of
office does not follow in these Societies, as in the State, gives them
greater advantage in this particular. The various officers and agents
become highly accomplished and skilled in their vocation, are
supported by fixed and adequate salaries, and can devote themselves
entirely to their work, from the day of their induction to the day of
their death. They are at home in their several places and spheres, and
know all about them. They understand by what means their objects can
best be obtained, are always growing wiser by experience, and
consequently more influential and powerful, in this particular. These
Societies have always a Head; a Council Board; legislative, executive,
and judicial departments of Government; Secretaries and
Under-secretaries; a fiscal system; itinerating Agents; subsidiary
organizations, multiplying in numbers, and increasing in influence;
journals, periodicals, tracts, books, &c. &c.--all subserving their
designs. These machineries are all the inventions of a single age, and
constitute a new era in human Society. They are, undeniably,
institutions of great influence and power. For religious and
benevolent objects, they seem to have been welcomed by the Christian
world generally, have been encouragingly sustained; and some of them
are engaged in large schemes, as wide as the human family, and might
vie, in the extent of their correspondence and responsibilities, with
the ordinary operations of political Governments. Confining themselves
to the objects and cares which they have assumed before the public,
they have neither roused the jealousies, nor encountered the
opposition, of the political world. Their powers are of a high order,
of great scope, and of no inconsiderable importance in the social
system.
Exactly according to this pattern is the American Anti-slavery
Society. The simple fact, that it has borrowed this machinery from
this quarter, proves, that the argument of the previous chapter,
showing it to be a religious movement, is founded in truth. Such,
beyond all question, is its character. Neither is it any the less
political on that account. The sum of the matter is: IT IS RELIGION IN
THE STATE; and so much _worse_ than a _Union of Church and State_, as
that it is a _usurpation_, set up in defiance of the State’s
authority, and in open violation of its highest, strongest, most
sacred law!
It is well for the Churches of this land, that they are not engaged in
this business, that they have lifted their voices against it, and
acquitted themselves of its responsibilities. It would be enough to
sink Christianity amongst us to the lowest depths, to rise again, no
one could tell when. But, fortunately, the public, the world will see,
that this responsibility rests on a few, and only a few, designing,
ambitious, turbulent spirits; that the great majority of those who
have been drawn into this mad enterprise, are perfectly innocent of
any evil designs, have never dreamed of violating law, have had their
best feelings worked upon by exaggerated statements and false
representations, have been made to believe that this was their proper
business, and been constituted Judges of that which did not belong to
them, and which they know little or nothing about. We are disposed to
believe, to hope, certainly, that it will only be necessary for them
to be enlightened in the knowledge of their position, as members and
abettors of such an organization, to be induced to withdraw, and wash
their hands of its responsibilities. It is the moral power which their
numbers give to it, that constitutes its importance and influence. It
is in fact a vast and powerful machinery, from the very nature of its
organization, and the methods of its operation, so long as it can hold
its own; more especially, so long as it is in a state of actual
growth, and in an advancing career. The Government of this country,
and those States which are parties concerned, cannot be too much alive
to this fact. The public generally ought to understand it; and if the
knowledge and conviction should generally obtain, that this Society is
a seditious organization, and engaged in a work of sedition, which, by
continuance, may grow into treason, it is believed, that no more
acquisitions to its numbers and power could be made, and that it would
gradually die away, and cease to agitate the public mind, without the
intervention of the public authorities.
We have shown, as we think, by the fairest argument, that this Society
_is_ an _organized_ sedition. But even if there were any doubt upon
the subject, that doubt ought to go in favour of public peace and
safety--_Ne quid detrementi respublica capiat_--lest the republic
receive damage.
If, in the judgment of the constituted authorities of this country,
the public safety should require it, we have no more doubt of their
competency to dissolve the American Anti-Slavery Society, and
suppress its action as an organization, than of the power of a Court
of Chancery to issue an injunction to arrest an alledged and apparent
violation of law, till the case can be fairly tried. But whether, or
when, it may be expedient, is for the proper authorities themselves,
in their discretion, to decide. In such a case, the present component
parts of this Society would be reduced to the Constitutional basis,
with all the license of the Constitutional provisions; and on that
ground they would be harmless. Whereas, as a _permanent_ and
_independent_ political organization, they are an unconstitutional,
vast, formidable, and dangerous power. This Society is in fact a rival
Empire on the territories of the Republic; and the simple question is,
whether this usurpation, or the old and Constitutional Government,
shall stand. If this organization has _already_ attained sufficient
strength and confidence in its power, to refuse submission to the
claims of the Constitution, and if it would _now_ resist the empire of
the law, in case it should be asserted, the very grave and portentious
question arises, what is likely to be the state of things in this
country, after the continued action and growth of this Society shall
_compel_ the Government to take a stand against it? There is all the
difference between the two cases, as between the strength of a bud,
and the vigorous trunk and extended arms of a full grown tree.