Mutato nomine, de te
Fabula narratur.—Hor. Sat. I. i. 69, 70.
And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shall escape the judgment of God?—Rom. ii. 3.
There are individuals in the United States who hold more of their fellow-creatures in slavery than either of the Barbary Powers.—Humphreys, Valedictory Discourse before the Cincinnati of Connecticut, p. 34.
This was another attempt to expose Slavery before a promiscuous audience at a time when the subject was too delicate to be treated directly. Mr. Sumner commenced in the course at Boston, and afterwards gave the substance of his Lecture before many of the Lyceums of Massachusetts. Professedly historical in character, and carefully avoiding any discussion of slavery in our country, it escaped "censure," although jealous defenders of compromise were disturbed. Others were pleased to find their sentiments against slavery represented in the lecture-room.
It was easy to see, that, under the guise of condemning the slavery of whites, he condemned the slavery of blacks. While showing how the first came to prevail, he naturally exposed the origin of all slavery; nor does he for a moment lose sight of slavery among us, which is constantly present under an alias. The outrage is exhibited not only in its original wrong and oppression, but in the constant efforts against it by all civilized nations, sometimes by ransom, sometimes by war, ending at last in bloody overthrow. Conspiracies and escapes are described. At that time there was intense interest in fugitive slaves, which was gratified by the stories here introduced, showing how human sympathies attend all seeking freedom. Elsewhere, as well as here, the North Star had been a guide. It was common to doubt the hardships of slavery in our country; but there were persons who doubted the hardships of slavery in the Barbary States. Nothing more common among compromisers than to say that our slaves did not desire freedom, and that they were better off than free negroes; but there were persons, professing to know the condition of the Barbary States, who insisted that there were white slaves who left with regret, and that they were better off than free Christians there. Thus at each point is this historical lecture an argument against Slavery, and an answer to its defenders.
[LECTURE.]
History is sometimes called a gallery, where are exhibited scenes, events, and characters of the Past. It may also be called the world's great charnel-house, where are gathered coffins, dead men's bones, and all the uncleanness of years that have fled. Thus is it both an example and a warning to mankind. Walking among its pictures, radiant with the inspiration of virtue and of freedom, we thrill with new impulse to beneficent exertion. Groping amidst unsightly shapes without an epitaph, we may at least derive fresh aversion to all their living representatives.
In this mighty gallery, amidst angelic light, are the benefactors of mankind,—poets who have sung the praise of virtue, historians who have recorded its achievements, and the good of all time, who, by word or deed, have striven for the welfare of others. Here are those scenes where the godlike in man is made manifest in trial and danger. Here also are those grand pictures exhibiting the establishment of free institutions: the signing of Magna Charta, with its priceless privileges, by a reluctant monarch; and the signing of the Declaration of Independence, announcing the inalienable rights of man, by the fathers of our Republic.