But if he took them for the purpose of carrying them to a free state, and of thus restoring them to their natural liberty, then he did not intend to convert them to his own use, and is not guilty of stealing.

The harshest doctrines in favor of slavery only claim, that a master has a right to the services of his slave.

He has not a right to his flesh and bones, so that he can cut up the former for dog’s meat, and grind the latter for compost.

Even should the bill be taken up, it is probable that all debate upon it will be suppressed by that sovereign silencer,--the previous question.

The bill proposes the abolition, not of slavery, but only of the slave trade, in the District of Columbia.

My argument will go to show, that, within the limits of this District, slavery ought not to exist in fact, and does not exist in law.

The eye sees what the mind is disposed to recognize.

The image upon the retina is nothing, if there be not an inward sense to discern it.

The artist sees beauty; the philosopher sees relations of cause and effect; the benevolent man catches the slightest tone of sorrow; but the insensate heart can wade through tears and see no weeping, and can live amidst groans of anguish…

Suppose Wilberforce and Clarkson to have had no “taste” for quelling the horrors of the African slave trade.

Suppose Miss Dix to have had no “taste” for carrying solace and comfort and restoration to the insane.

Suppose the Abbé L’Epée to have had no “taste” for teaching deaf mutes; or the Abbé Hauy for educating the blind; or M.

Seguin and others for training idiots, and for educing docility and decency, and a love of order from those almost imperceptible germs of reason and sense, that barely distinguish them from the brutes!

Suppose these things, and in what a different condition would the charities and the sufferings of the world have been!

But, sir, just in proportion as the light of civilization and Christianity dawns upon the world, will men be found who have a “taste” for succoring the afflicted and for righting the wronged.

It was the clearest proof of the Great Teacher’s mission, that he had “a taste” for going about doing good.

Human rights have been recognized, and their practical enjoyment, to some extent, secured.

A noble catalogue of rights has been wrested by the British commons from the British nobility.

Even the Pope of Rome, whose power seemed as eternal as the hills on which he was seated, has sunk under the shock.

Prussia, and all the Germanic powers, with the exception of Austria, have been half revolutionized; and even the icy despotisms of Austria and Russia are forced to relent under those central fires of liberty which burn forever in the human…

Great Britain has abolished African slavery throughout all her realms.

France has declared that any one who shall voluntarily become the owner of a slave, or shall voluntarily continue to be the owner of a slave cast upon him by bequest or inheritance, shall cease to be a citizen of France.

Denmark has abolished slavery wherever it existed in her possessions.

The priests of Persia declare the sentiment to have come by tradition from Mahomet himself, “that the worst of men is the seller of men.” Not only all civilized nations, but the half civilized, the semi-barbarous, are acting under the…

So far from facilitating the increase of individual or national wealth, slavery retards both.