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Slavery in America.

No. XI.-MAY, 1837.

INAUGURAL SPEECH OF THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT.

SINCE the publication of our last number, the New York papers have furnished us with the Ex-president's valedictory address to the legislature of the United States; the interest of which is heightened from its being the last public act of a man who for many years has acted so conspicuous a part on the stormy element of political life. We are also furnished with the inaugural speech of the New President, Mr. Van Buren, which may be interpreted as a kind of official programme for the whole term of his political ascendancy. We see pretty clearly in this address what we are to expect, and what we are not to expect, from him, so far as his personal or public influence may guide the course of events. With his sentiments on the general matters of political discussion which now agitate that portion of the world, we have nothing to do. On these points some of the papers call him the "unpledged President," free to act just as the tide of public feeling may hereafter set in. But there is one matter in which he is not "unpledged ;" and that is the only one in which we feel any peculiar interest. He is the abettor of slavery-the determined foe to abolitionism, both in principle and practice; and from him neither the slave nor his advocate have any thing to expect, except it be, malice in all its moods, and opposition in all its inveteracy.

The following is that part of the address which relates to the social condition of the States, which, though it has already appeared in various public channels, may not have been noticed by all our readers; upon which we shall offer a few concluding remarks :—

"The last, perhaps the greatest, of the prominent sources of discord and disaster supposed to lurk in our political condition, was the institution of domestic slavery. Our forefathers were deeply impressed with the delicacy of this

subject, and they treated it with a forbearance so evidently wise, that, in spite of every sinister foreboding, it never, until the present period, disturbed the tranquillity of our common country. Such a result is sufficient evidence of the justice and the patriotism of their course; it is evidence not to be mistaken, that an adherence to it can prevent all embarrassment from this as well as from every other anticipated cause of difficulty or danger. Have not recent events made it obvious to the slightest reflection, that the least deviation from this spirit of forbearance is injurious to every interest, that of humanity included? Amidst the violence of existing passions, this generous and fraternal feeling has been sometimes disregarded; and, standing as I now do before my countrymen in this high place of honor and of trust, I cannot refrain from anxiously invoking my fellow-citizens never to be deaf to its dictates. Perceiving, before my election, the deep interest this subject was beginning to excite, I believed it a solemn duty fully to make known my sentiments in regard to it; and now, when every motive for misrepresentation has passed away, I trust that will be candidly weighed and understood. At least they will be my standard of conduct in the path before me. I then declared that, if the desire of those of my countrymen who were favorable to my election was gratified, 'I must go into the Presidential Chair the inflexible and uncompromising opponent of every attempt, on the part of Congress, to abolish slavery in the district of Columbia, against the wishes of the slave-holding States; and, also, with a determination equally decided, to resist the slightest interference with it in the States where it exists. I submitted also to my fellow-citizens, with fulness and frankness, the reasons which led me to this determination. The result authorizes me to believe that they have been approved, and are confided in, by a majority of the people of the United States, including those whom they most immediately affect. It now only remains to add, that NO BILL CONFLICTING WITH THESE VIEWS CAN EVER RECEIVE MY CONSTITU

TIONAL SANCTION.

These opinions have been adopted in the firm belief, that they are in accordance with the spirit that actuated the venerated fathers of the republic, and that succeeding experience has proved them to be humane, patriotic, expedient, honorable, and just. If the agitation of this subject was intended to reach the stability of our institutions, enough has occurred to show that it has signally failed; and that in this, as in every other instance, the apprehensions of the timid, and the hopes of the wicked for the destruction of our Government, are again destined to be disappointed. Here and there, indeed, scenes of dangerous excitement have occurred; terrifying instances of local violence have been witnessed; and a reckless disregard of the consequences of their conduct has exposed individuals to popular indignation; but neither masses of the people, nor sections of the country, have been swerved from their devotion to the bond of union, and the principles it has made sacred. It will ever be thus. Such attempts at dangerous agitation may periodically return, but with each the object will be better understood. That predominating affection for our political system which prevails throughout our territorial limits; the calm and enlightened judgment which ultimately governs our people as one vast body; will always be at hand to resist and control every effort, foreign or domestic, which aims, or would lead, to overthrow our institutions."

Now, whatever else we may think of this speech, we must call it open and honest. There is no mistake about the matter. We know what

Martin Van Buren is, and where he is. And, as he might do the abolition cause infinitely more damage by disguised friendship than by open hostility, the friends to equal rights will expend no effort in courting his aid, and suffer no mortification in being denied it. The course is all clear before them; having nothing to anticipate from the legislature, their whole energies will be expended in turning the current of public feeling in a right direction; nothing daunted, and nothing doubting, but that, when this is fairly set in, legislators, like that accommodating apparatus which we attach to the top of our churches, will very soon find which way the wind sets.

We confess, however, that we were not prepared for this impious. avowal. From private sources, we had reason to expect a different line of conduct. When canvassing among the abolitionists, we understand, he had so adroitly managed to conceal his sentiments, as to allay all apprehension that he was at heart an enemy to their cause; and that his apparent advocacy of slavery was only adopted as an expedient necessary to secure his election. But now, all delicacy is done away with; he comes out the bold and uncompromising advocate of things as they are; the lauder of all the institutions of his country, slavery not excepted; boasting that "the rights of the humblest individuals shall be respected," while one-sixth part of the population have no rights at all; and the other five parts no liberty to present a petition on their behalf. Is this America, or is it Algiers? Is it true, that from our cradle upwards we have been told that America is the land of liberty?

We must, nevertheless, confess ourselves gratified at this open and candid avowal on another ground, The acts of its government give the stamp to the character of the people. We are now at no loss in what category to place the government of the United States. It is a SLAVESTATE! Semi-tyrants-semi-slaves! The official declaration of its President has unequivocally stamped the national character. The Americans are not slave-holders from necessity, but from choice. It is not an accident in their institutions, not an incubus which they would willingly be rid of, not a curse entailed upon them from the former governors of their country; but it is what they relish, what they cling to, what they obstinately defend. The President has thrown his official egis over the whole system; and, at such a moment as this, he would not have jarred the harmony by the expression of a sentiment opposed to public feeling; or put into jeopardy that popularity which his elevation had just secured to him.

The true character of a people, like that of an individual, is more correctly ascertained by what is the aspect and bearing of their general acts, than by any one solitary instance of legislation. And, with this commonplace sentiment in the mind, let any one look at the tendency of all the recent acts of the American Congress. Have they not had an aspect of

deeper degradation and cruelty towards the hapless beings that lie crouching beneath their iron sway? Their one apparent aim is to render their property in human flesh more valuable and more secure; and to effect this, they break the spirit of the slave by oppression; they degrade and insult those whom they cannot oppress; they foment and increase the prejudice against the whole race; they stop up all the avenues to his education and improvement; they expatriate, either by force or by fraud, those who have broken through these impediments, and who have rendered themselves dangerous by holding the power which knowledge has put into their hands. If there had been the least wish to rid the States of this abomination, the aspect of their legislative acts would have looked exactly in the opposite direction. Their first object would have been to prevent the increase of the evil; their ports would have been shut against all slave-ships; they would have co-operated with Britain in the destruction of the African trade; they would have laid a train first for ameliorating, and then gradually annihilating the entire system. But, instead of any tendency towards this, what by-stander does not see that God has given them up to a spirit of infatuation, the certain presage of destruction? They are yet preserved, and the elements may discover but very faint emblems of a gathering storm; for "the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." But those who stand at a distance, and in a more elevated and independent situation, cannot help being forcibly struck with the analogy of the American people at the present time, and that of the Israelites in the days of Rehoboam; who "forsook the counsel of the old men, and spake after the counsel of the young men, who were grown up with him, My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions." The American people, if they are wise, will consult the sequel of this history. If they wish not to hear the cry, "Every man to your tents, O Israel!" they will retrace their steps, and recollect, "that righteousness exalteth a nation; but that sin is the destruction of any people.'

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The recent demonstration will also enlighten us on another subject: it will enable us rightly to estimate the canting hypocrisy of those Americans, the Elliot Cressons, and the Breckenridges, who come over into this country, and tell us, that their countrymen detest slavery as much as we do; and would fain make us believe, that if we would but let them alone, they would eventually, but gradually, abolish the whole system. Can there be any truth in these tales ? Is there one atom of demonstration in any of the acts of the general legislature, that such is the goal at which they are aiming? Will not the recent declaration of the President disabuse the judgment of the most credulous, that such is the course, however circuitous, they are desirous of pursuing? And, will it not have the effect of compelling every reflecting citizen, unless he is prepared through thick and thin to defend the system, to abandon the legislature

to its own infatuation, and to join the ranks of those who, by a more direct, a more righteous, and a more feasible procedure, are aiming to rid their country of this foul stain upon its character, this canker-worm at the root of its institutions, this element of combustion that threatens its entire overthrow.

We have not the least fear that this straw in the path will hinder, for a moment, the career of that formidable and increasing band of worthies who are pledged to the destruction of this abomination in their beloved country. They are not the men to flinch at a President's frown, nor to desert a cause because men high in influence and office cast a malicious sneer upon it. All this will rather stimulate than retard; and we were, therefore, not at all surprised, that the very paper which contains the President's Speech, should also contain a highly nervous and animated appeal, evidently from a man goaded on to greater energy by the opposition thrown in his path. The following remarks are copied from the Emancipator, of the 9th of March, five days after the Address was delivered.

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"The New President has delivered his Inaugural Address, and taken on him the oath and the responsibilities of office. So much of the Address as relates to slavery, a large portion of the whole, will be found in another column. We have not time or space to say all we could wish in relation to it; but we confess we did not expect the avowal of such sentiments and such determinations, by one who is, or rather was, the son of freedom, the advocate of democratic principles and equal rights, and once at least the friend of the colored man; and, least of all, did we expect this speech at such a time, and on such an occasion-in an Inaugural Address. But the deed is done. The devil is unmasked. In the face of heaven and earth, the President of these United States stands forth, avowedly, the enemy of freedom, the opponent of equal rights, the defender of slavery, the slanderer of freedom's friends, and the instigator and patron of mobs. About to assume the responsibilities of the highest office in the gift of a professedly free people, he steps forth, with tyrant heart, and face of brass, and lips of slander, and declares the effort to give freedom to the enslaved, "injurious to every interest, that of humanity included," stigmatizes it as "dangerous agitation," the creature of sinister design, whose " object will be better understood" from time to time, and as opposed to the "spirit that actuated the venerable fathers of the republic;" speaks of "scenes of dangerous excitement," "terrifying instances of local violence" and "popular indignation," wreaking its vengeance on the heads of the friends of freedom, and resolves the whole into "a reckless disregard of the consequences of their conduct" on their part; nay, talks of the resistance with which they have been met, as the creature of "devotion to the bond of union," a "pre

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