Besides, the Antislavery Enterprise is right; and the right is always practicable.

I know well the little faith of the world in the triumph of principles, and I readily imagine the despair with which our object is regarded; but not on this account am I disheartened.

Here is no impossibility; nor is there any difficulty which will not yield to faithful, well-directed endeavor.

If to any timid soul the Enterprise seems impossible because it is too beautiful, then do I say at once that it is too beautiful not to be possible.

But, Sir, it does confidently assume, against all question, contradiction, or assault whatever, that every man is entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and, with equal confidence, it asserts that every individual who…

When this is done, I know not what other trials may be in wait for the unhappy African; but this I do know, that the Antislavery Enterprise will then have triumphed, and the institution of Slavery, as defined by existing law, will no…

When Slavery is thus regarded, its true character will be recognized, as a hateful assemblage of unquestionable wrongs under sanction of existing law, and good men will be moved to apply the remedy.

Surely that central assumption--more deadly than axe itself--by which man is changed into a chattel, may be abandoned; and is not this practicable?

The “abuse” which substitutes concubinage for marriage, the “abuse” which annuls the parental relation, the “abuse” which closes the portals of knowledge, the “abuse” which tyrannically usurps all the labor of another, now upheld by…

To say that this is not practicable, in the nineteenth century, is a scandal upon mankind, and just in proportion as these “abuses” cease to have the sanction of law will the institution of Slavery cease to exist.

The African, whatever may be then his condition, will no longer be the slave over whose wrongs and sorrows the world throbs at times fiercely indignant, and at times painfully sad, while with outstretched arms he sends forth the piteous…

Clearly, if the point be determined by absolute justice, not the masters, but the slaves, are entitled to compensation; for it is the slaves who, throughout weary generations, have been deprived of the fruits of their toil, all constantly…

What sum shall be counted out as the proper price for the abandonment of that pretension--more indecent than the jus primæ noctis of the feudal age--which leaves woman, whether in the arms of master or slave, always a concubine?

What bribe shall be proffered for restoration of God-given paternal rights?

What money shall be paid for taking off the padlock by which souls are fastened down in darkness?

How much for a quit-claim to labor now meanly exacted by the strong from the weak?

And what compensation shall be awarded for the egregious assumption, condemned by reason and abhorred by piety, which changes man into a thing?

The first objection, founded on alleged danger to the master, most generally takes the extravagant form, that the slave, if released from his present condition, would “cut his master’s throat.” Here is a blatant paradox, which can pass for…

Will the master sleep less secure when the slave no longer smarts under these revolting atrocities?

By a single Act of Parliament the slaves of the British West Indies were changed at once to freedmen; and this great transition was accomplished absolutely without personal danger of any kind to the master.

The Saviour was nailed to the cross with a crown of thorns on his head, as a disturber of that peace on earth which he came to declare.

The Disciples, while preaching the Gospel of forgiveness and good-will, were stoned as preachers of sedition and discord.

The Reformers, who sought to establish a higher piety and faith, were burnt at the stake as blasphemers and infidels.

Patriots, in all ages, striving for their country’s good, have been doomed to the scaffold or to exile, even as their country’s enemies.

Let us at all hazards prevent the extension of Slavery and the increase of the Slave Power.