“peace and safety ... The liberal, enlightened, and magnani“mous conduct of the people in many portions of the non-slave“ holding states, forbids us to anticipate a refusai on the part of " those states, to fulfil thuse high obligations of natisnai faith and “ duty.” These are the real sentiments of George M.Duffie, of South Carolina, as he declares with solemn asseverations of sinterity. They are briefly stated in his own language, omitting for the want of room, his multifarious illustrations which can neither advantage their author, nor allay the indignation which they cannot fail to arouse in every virtuous breast. If it were not decreed by heaven, that nothing before the last trump should disturb the quiet of the dead, such startling doctrines, prononuced by the chief magistrate of one of the states of this republic, would be sufficient to call forth the shade of JEFFERSON from its long repose. ÉThat consistent advocate of freedom had prepared a proposition to be presented to the legislature of Virginia, in 1785, for the emancipation of all slaves born after the passage of the act. Upon learning, while in France, that this proposition had not been taken up by the legislature, and that no provision had been made for the general emancipation of the slaves, he expresses his feelings in the following vehement language : “What a stupendous, what an incomprehensible machine is « man! Who can endure toil, famine, stripes, and imprisonment, “ and death itself, in vindication of his own liberty, and the next " moment be deaf to all those motives whose powers supported “him through his trial, and inflict on his fellow-men a bondage, u one hour of which is fraught with more misery than ages of that " which he rose in rebellion to oppose! But we must await with “patience the workings of an overruling Providence, and hope that “ he is preparing the deliverance of these our suffering brethren, « When the measure of their tears shall be full-when their groans shall have involved heaven itself in darkness, doubtless “ a God of justice will awaken to their distress, and by diffusing light and liberality among their oppressors, or, at length, by his “ exterminating thunder, manifest his attention to the things of " this world, and that they are not left to the guidance of a blind « fatality.” V. The following paragraph was written by Mr. Jefferson in 1821, in allusion to the above mentioned proposition. 66 “ It was found," says he, “that the public mind would not yet “ bear the proposition, nor will it bear it even at this day. Yet “ the day is not distant when it must bear and adopt it, or worse will “ follow; Nothing is MORE CERTAINLY WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF FATE, THAN THAT THESE PEOPLE ARE TO BE FREE. Nor is it less “ certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live in the same No. VII. government. Nature, habit, opinion, have drawn indelible lines “ of distinction between them. It is still in our power to direct “ the process of emancipation and deportation peaceably, and in “ such slow degree, as the evil will wear off insensibly, and their “ place be, pari passu, filled up with free white labourers. If, on " the contrary, it is left to force itself on, human nature must shud“ der at the prospect held up. We should in vain look for an ex« ample in the Spanish deportation, or deletion of the Moors.-“ This precedent would fall far short of our case.” It was long ago predicted by European writers of the first distinction, that the southern states are destined to become the scene of NEGRO DOMINION, and A THORN IN THE SIDE OF THE GIANT REPUBLIC.” And yet we are told, that the free citizens of the north, who shall attempt to avert so appalling a calamity by the exercise of a timely commiseration “ for these our suffering brethren,” and by “diffusing light and liberality among their oppressors,” and entreating them, by their regard for the laws of the God that made them, and their love for the country that gave them birth, to provide for the ultimate, but certain abolition of this unjust system, ought to be punished by death. " BLOCKING UP THE UNITED STATES MAIL. The Governor of Georgia, in his message to the legislature of that state, at the session commencing in November, 1835, recommends such an alteration of the existing laws as will “more effec“ tually prevent the circulation, through the post-office or other“ wise, of any publication tending to interrupt their social rela* tions, or calling in question their constitutional right of pro“ perty.” The design is to exclude all anti-slavery publications from the state, whether they advocate immediate or gradual emancipation, in defiance of the laws of the United States. 9 THE TRUE PRINCIPLES AND SENTIMENTS OF THE ABOLITIONISTS. To the Public. : In behalf of the American Anti-Slavery Society, we solicit the candid a ttention of the public to the following declaration of our principles and objects. Were the charges which are brought against us made only by individuals who are interested in the continuance of slavery, and such as are influenced solely by unworthy motives, this address would be unnecessary : but there are those who merit and possess our esteem, who would not voluntarily do us injustice, and who have been led by gross misrepresentations to believe that we are pursuing measures at variance not only with the constitutional rights of the south, but with the precepts of hamanity and religion. To such we offer the following explanations and assurances. 1st. We hold that Congress has no more right to abolish slavery in the southern states, than in the French West India islands. Of course, we desire no national legislation on the subject. 2d. We hold that slavery can only be lawfully abolished by the legislatures of the several states in which it prevails, and that the exercise of any other than moral influence to induce such abolition is unconstitutional. 3d. We believe that Congress has the same right to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia that the state governments have within their respective jurisdictions, and that it is their duty to efface so foul a blot from the national escutcheon. 4th. We believe that American citizens have the right to express and publish their opinions of the constitution, laws, and institutions of any and every state and nation under heaven; and we mean never to surrender the liberty of speech, of the press, or of conscience, blessings we have inherited from our fathers, and which we intend, as far as we are able, to transmit unimpaired to our children. 5th. We have uniformly deprecated all forcible attempts on the part of the slaves to recover their liberty. And were it in our power to address them, we would exhort them to observe a quiet and peaceful demeanour; and would assure them, that no insurrectionary movement, on their part, would receive from us the slightest aid or countenance. P a 6th. We would deplore any servile insurrection, both on account of the calamitics which would attend it, and on account of the occasion which it might furnish of increased severity and oppression. 7th. We are charged with sending incendiary publications to the south. If by the term incendiary is meant publications containing arguments and facts to prove slavery to be a moral and political evil, and that duty and policy require its immediate abolition, the charge is true. But if this term is used to imply publications encouraging insurrection, and designed to excite the slaves to break their fetters, the charge is utterly and unequivocally false. We beg our fellow-citizens to notice, that this charge is made without proof, and by many who confess that they have never read our publications; and that those who make it offer to the public no evidence from our writings in support of it. 8th. We are accused of sending our publications to the slaves; and it is asserted, that their tendency is to excite insurrection, Both the charges are false. These publications are not intended for the slaves; and were they able to read them, they would find. in them no encouragement to insurrection. 9th. We are accused of employing agents in the slave states to distribute our publications. We have never had one such agent. We have sent no packages of our papers to any person in those states for distribution, except to five respectable resident citizens at their own request. But we have sent by mail, single papers addressed to public officers, editors of newspapers, clergymen, and others. If, therefore, our object is to excite the slaves to insurrection, the MASTERS are our agents ! 10th. We believe slavery to be sinful, to be injurious to this and every other country in which it prevails; we believe immodiate emancipation to be the duty of every slave-holder, and that the immediate abolition of slavery by those who have the right to abolish it, would be safe and wise. These opinions we have freely expressed, and we certainly have no intention to refrain from expressing them in future, and urging them upon the consciences, and hearts of our fellow-citizens who hold slaves, or apologize for slavery. ilth. We believe that the education of the poor is required by duty, and by a regard for the permanency of our republican institutions. There are thousands. and tens of thousands of our fellow-citizens, even in the free states, sunk in abject poverty, and who, on account of their complexion, are virtually kept in ignorance, and whose instruction in certain cases is actually prohibited by law! We are anxious to protect the rights, and to promote the virtue and happiness of the coloured portion of our population ; and on this account, we have been charged with a design to encourage intermarriages between the whites and the blacks. This charge has been repeatedly, and is now again denied; while we repeat, that the tendency of our sentiments is to put an end to the criminal amalgamation that prevails wherever slavery exists. 12th. We are accused of acts that tend to a dissolution of the union, and even of wishing to dissolve it. We have never “calculated the value of the union,” because we believe it to be inestimable ; and that the abolition of slavery will remove the chief danger of its dissolution; and one of the many reasons why we cherish, and will endeavour to preserve the constitution, is, that it restrains congress from making any law "abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." Such, fellow-citizens, are our principles—are they unworthy of republicans and of Christians ? Or are they in truth so atrocious, that in order to prevent their diffusion you are yourselves willing to surrender, at the dictation of others, the invaluable privilege of free discussion, the very birthright of Americans ? Will you, in order that the abominations of slavery may be concealed from public view, and that the capital of your republic may continue to be, as it now is, under the sanction of congress, the great slave mart of the American Continent, consent that the general government, in acknowledged defiance of the constitution and laws, shall appoint throughout the length and breadth of your land, ten thousand censors of the press, each of whom shall have the right to inspect every document you may commit to the Post-office, and to suppress every painphlet and newspaper, whether religious or political, which in his sovereign pleasure he may adjudge to contain an incendiary article ? Surely we need not remind you, that if you submit to such an encroachment on your liberties, the days of our republic are numbered, and that although the abolitionists |