FROM REV. MR. BOARDMAN OF N. Y.
Mr. Boardman directed his address especially to ladies, and we should think not without effect. He said:
“In slavery, marriage is unknown. Men and women live together: but the tie is not formally sanctioned. There is no minister, no magistrate, to give religious or civil authority to the relation. It is a system of concubinage. And this state of things is encouraged, or rather marriage is discouraged, because it throws an obstacle in the way of the sale of these human chattels. Notwithstanding, the ties of affection are not less strong on account of the absence of legal or religious sanction. Indeed, the fellowship of suffering binds still stronger the hearts of husband and wife. It is the only channel of affection. The children of the slave are not his own—they are not subject to his authority, and they may be torn from him without a moment’s warning. Pent up in every other direction, the affections of husband and wife naturally centre entirely upon each other. Yet, even this tie is rudely severed. A slave in the west, who had a wife belonging to another master, learned, to his great grief, that his wife had been sold for the southern market. He went to his master, and requested that he might be sold, so as not to be separated from his wife. In order to dissuade him from it, his master described the hardships to which he would be exposed in the south; but he was firm to his purpose, choosing the severe servitude of the sugar plantations of the south, in preference to a separation from the wife of his bosom. His master then offered him money to satisfy him; but no, he said he could not leave his wife. ‘O,’ says his master, ‘You can get another!’ ‘Why, massa, don’t you think I am a man!’
“Another case, I will mention, to show the legitimate effects of slavery upon the relations of life. A colored man, who was a member of the church, and who had been living with a woman, according to the customs of the slaves, went to his master, who was an elder in the Presbyterian church, and told him that he did not feel right to be living so, and requested permission to be lawfully married. And, how do you suppose this reasonable request was received? Although it was a request from one Christian brother to another to be permitted to cease from sin, yet it was received with a laugh, and positively denied.
“It is in behalf of woman, to woman that this appeal is made, It is woman in bondage that calls for woman’s sympathies, woman’s efforts, and woman’s prayers. And I feel confident that this appeal will not meet a cold repulse, because the object of it has a black skin. I remember, in my boyhood, of seeing a colored man driving a cart, and by some accident he was precipitated from his seat, and crushed to death. But when the alarm began to spread, I heard it said, ‘O, its only a poor negro that is killed.’ But O, thought I, it is a man. And, boy as I was, I remembered that he had an immortal soul. Ah, think you woman would have said that? No. Woman has a heart that can be moved with the sufferings of the poor negro.
“Woman did much for the abolition of slavery in Great Britain and her dependencies. When the petition was presented to parliament, it required four men to carry it to the speaker’s desk. It was signed by 182,000 ladies. A noble lord arose, and with much emotion, said, ‘It is time for us to move in this matter, when we are called upon in this manner by our wives, and sisters, and mothers!’ And I rejoice that the ladies of this country are already lifting up their voices on this subject. Sir, I was much gratified to hear the voice of 1,000 of my countrywomen raised in the General Assembly, in behalf of suffering humanity. And, I feel assured that woman’s voice will be heard. But, if man will not hear, there is an audience where you can appear with the assurance of being heard. O, then, mothers, sisters, wives, let your voice be heard at the throne of grace, pleading in behalf of your enslaved sisters, and of suffering bondmen.
“But, the question is asked and reiterated, ‘What has abolition done?’ What has abolition done! It has done much, sir. It has so modified the sentiments of many colonizationists that they speak a language in reference to slavery, which would not have been tolerated in 1830. Its voice is now heard in Maryland, in Kentucky, in Tennessee, in Missouri—in some places, indeed, it is feeble—in others it is the voice of thunder. What has abolition done? On the first day of August, 1834, it broke the manacles of 800,000 slaves. The sun set upon them in bondage, and rose upon them in freedom.”
FROM REV. MR. DICKEY OF OHIO.
“Sir,” said Mr. D., “I am not ignorant of slavery. Having passed thirty years of my life in a slave state, and having been a slave-holder myself, I know something about it.
“Slavery in the church exposes her to the scoffs of the world. Infidels despise a religion which they suppose sanctions such oppression. I once heard a professor of religion laboring to justify slavery from the Bible, in the presence of an infidel; who turned from him with contempt, saying he despised such a religion.