I.--Results of the slavery agitation--Declaration of Independence--
The way men are made infidels--Testimonies of General Assemblies
II.--Government over man a divine institute
III.--Man-stealing
IV.--The Golden Rule
Speech Delivered at Buffalo, Before the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church.
To understand the following speech, the reader will be pleased to
learn--if he don't know already--that the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church, before its division in 1838, and since,--both Old
School and New School,--has been, for forty years and more, bearing
testimony, after a fashion, against the system of slavery; that is to say,
affirming, in one breath, that slave-holding is a "blot on our holy
religion," &c. &c.; and then, in the next utterance, making all sorts of
apologies and justifications for the slave-holder. Thus: this august body
has been in the habit of telling the Southern master (especially in the
Detroit resolutions of 1850) that he is a _sinner_, hardly meet to be
called a _Christian_; but, nevertheless, if he will only sin "from
unavoidable necessity, imposed by the laws of the States,"--if he will
only sin under the "obligations of guardianship,"--if he will only sin
"from the demands of humanity,"--why, then, forsooth, he may be a
slave-holder as long as _he has a mind to_. Yea, he may hold one slave,
one hundred or one thousand slaves, and till the day of judgment.
Happening to be in attendance, as a member of the body, in Buffalo, May,
1853, when, as usual, the system of slavery was touched, in a series of
questions sent down to the church courts below, I made the following
remarks, in good-natured ridicule of such preposterous and stultifying
testimony; and, as an argument, opening the views I have since reproduced
in the second speech of this volume, delivered in the General Assembly
which convened in New York, May, 1856, and also in the letters
following:--
BUFFALO, FRIDAY, May 27, 1853.
The order of the day was reached at a quarter before eleven, and the
report read again,--viz.:
"1. That this body shall reaffirm the doctrine of the second resolution
adopted by the General Assembly, convened in Detroit, in 1850, and,
"2. That with an express disavowal of any intention to be impertinently
inquisitorial, and for the sole purpose of arriving at the truth, so as to
correct misapprehensions and allay all causeless irritation, a committee
be appointed of one from each of the synods of Kentucky, Tennessee,
Missouri, and Virginia, who shall be requested to report to the next
General Assembly on the following points:--1. The number of slave-holders
in connection with the churches, and the number of slaves held by them. 2.
The extent to which slaves are held from an unavoidable necessity imposed
by the laws of the States, the obligations of guardianship, and the
demands of humanity. 3. Whether the Southern churches regard the
sacredness of the marriage relation as it exists among the slaves; whether
baptism is duly administered to the children of the slaves professing
Christianity, and in general, to what extent and in what manner provision
is made for the religious well-being of the slave," &c. &c.
Dr. Ross moved to amend the report by substituting the following,--with
an express disavowal of being impertinently inquisitorial:--that a
committee of _one_ from each of the Northern synods of ---- be appointed,
who shall be requested to report to the next General Assembly,--
1. The number of Northern church-members concerned, directly or
indirectly, in building and fitting out ships for the African slave-trade,
and the slave-trade between the States.
2. The number of Northern church-members who traffic with slave-holders,
and are seeking to make money by selling them negro-clothing, handcuffs,
and cowhides.
3. The number of Northern church-members who have sent orders to New
Orleans, and other Southern cities, to have slaves sold, to pay debts
owing them from the South. [See Uncle Tom's Cabin.]
4. The number of Northern church-members who buy the cotton, sugar, rice,
tobacco, oranges, pine-apples, figs, ginger, cocoa, melons, and a thousand
other things, raised by slave-labor.
5. The number of Northern church-members who have intermarried with
slave-holders, and have thus become slave-owners themselves, or enjoy the
wealth made by the blood of the slave,--especially if there be any
Northern ministers of the gospel in such a predicament.
6. The number of Northern church-members who are the descendants of the
men who kidnapped negroes in Africa and brought them to Virginia and New
England in former years.
7. The aggregate and individual wealth of members thus descended, and what
action is best to compel them to disgorge this blood-stained gold, or to
compel them to give dollar for dollar in equalizing the loss of the South
by emancipation.
8. The number of Northern church-members, ministers especially, who have
advocated _murder_ in resistance to the laws of the land.
9. The number of Northern church-members who own stock in under-ground
railroads, running off fugitive slaves, and in Sabbath-breaking railroads
and canals.
10. That a special commission be sent up Red River, to ascertain whether
Legree, who whipped Uncle Tom to death, (and who was a Northern
_gentleman_,) be not still in connection with some Northern church in good
and regular standing.
11. The number of Northern church-members who attend meetings of
Spiritual Rappers,--or Bloomers,--or Women's-Rights Conventions.