The American Union SpeakerPhilbrick, John D. (John Dudley)
General
The American Union Speaker
Philbrick, John D. (John Dudley)
Recitations
communion with it.
I would invoke those who fill the seats of justice, and all who minister at
her altar, that they execute the wholesome and necessary severity of the
law. I invoke the ministers of our religion, that they proclaim its
denunciation of these crimes, and add its solemn sanctions to the authority
of human laws. If the pulpit be silent whenever or wherever there may be a
sinner bloody with this guilt within the hearing of its voice, the pulpit
is false to its trust. I call on the fair merchant, who has reaped his
harvest upon the seas, that he assist in scourging from those seas the
worst pirates that ever infested them. That ocean, which seems to wave with
a gentle magnificence to waft the burden of an honest commerce, and to roll
along its treasures with a conscious pride, that ocean, which hardy
industry regards, even when the winds have ruffled its surface, as a field
of grateful toil,--what is it to the victim of this oppression, when he is
brought to its shores, and looks forth upon it, for the first time, loaded
with chains, and bleeding with stripes? What is it to him but a wide-spread
prospect of suffering, anguish and death? Nor do the skies smile longer,
nor is the air longer fragrant to him. The sun is cast down from heaven. An
inhuman and accursed traffic has cut him off in his manhood, or in his
youth, from every enjoyment belonging to his being, and every blessing
which his Creator intended for him.
The Christian communities send forth their emissaries of religion and
letters, who stop, here and there, along the coast of the vast continent of
Africa, and with painful and tedious efforts make some almost imperceptible
progress in the communication of knowledge, and in the general improvement
of the natives who are immediately about them. Not thus slow and
imperceptible is the transmission of the vices and bad passions which the
subjects of Christian States carry to the land. The slave trade having
touched the coast, its influence and its evils spread, like a pestilence,
over the whole continent, making savage wars more savage and more frequent,
and adding new and fierce passions to the contests of barbarians.
I pursue this topic no further, except again to say, that all Christendom,
being now blessed with peace, is bound by everything which belongs to its
character, and to the character of the present age, to put a stop to this
inhuman and disgraceful traffic.
D. Webster.
CX.
SUPPOSED SPEECH OF JOHN ADAMS IN FAVOR OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account