Author: William Ellery Channing

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2018-01-30

Total Pages: 20

ISBN-13: 9780483851382

Excerpt from Letter of Dr. William E. Channing to James G. Birney God and their raoe'.t I speak not from vague rumour, but from better means of knowledge when I say, that a body of men and women more blameless than the abolitionists in their various relations, or more disposed to adopta rigid construction of the Christian precepts, cannot be found among us. Of their judiciousness and wisdom, I do not speak; but I believe, they yield to no party in moral worth. Their great crime, and one, which in this land of liberty is to be punished above all crimes, is this, that they carry the doctrine of hu man equality to its full extent, that they plead vehemently for the op pressed, that theyassail wrong-doing, however sanctioned by opin ion, or entrenched behind wealth and power, that their zeal for hu man rights is without measure, that. They associate themselves fer vently with the Christians and philanthropists of other countries against the worst relics of barbarian times. Such is the offence, against which mobs are arrayed and which is counted so flagrant, that a summary justice, too indignant to wait for the tardy progress of tribunals, must take the punishment into its own hands. How strange in a free country that the men from whom the liberty of Speech is to be torn, are those who use it in pleading for freedom, who devote themselves to the vindication of human rights! What a Spectacle is presented to the world by a republic, in which sentence of prescription is passed on citizens, who labour, by addressing men's consciences, to enforce the truth, that slavery is the greatest of wrongs! Through the civilized world, the best and greatest men are bearing joint witness against slavery. Christians of all denomina tions, and conditions, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, are bound in aholy league against this most degrading form of oppression. But in free America, the language which despots tolerate, must not be heard. One would think, that freemen might be pardoned, if the view of fellow-creatures stripped of all human rights should move them to vehemence of Speech. But whilst on all other subjects, the deeply stirred feelings may overflow in earnest remonstrance, on Sla very the freemen must Speak in whispers, or pay the penalty of per secution for the natural utterance of strong emotion. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.