eable novelty. Algernon Sidney said, "When I
cannot live in my own country, but by such means as are worse than dying
in it, I think God shows me that I ought to keep myself out of it."

But the slaveholders try to stop all the efforts of benevolence, by
vociferous complaints about infringing upon their _property_; and
justice is so subordinate to self-interest, that the unrighteous claim
is silently allowed, and even openly supported, by those who ought
to blush for themselves, as Christians and as republicans. Let men
_simplify_ their arguments--let them confine themselves to one single
question, "What right can a man have to compel his neighbor to toil
without reward, and leave the same hopeless inheritance to his children,
in order that _he_ may live in luxury and indolence?" Let the doctrines
of _expediency_ return to the Father of Lies, who invented them, and
gave them power to turn every way for evil. The Christian knows no
appeal from the decisions of God, plainly uttered in his conscience.

The laws of Venice allowed _property_ in human beings; and upon this
ground Shylock demanded his pound of flesh, cut nearest to the heart.
Those who advertise mothers to be sold separately from their children,
likewise claim a right to human flesh; and they too cut it nearest to
the _heart_.

The personal liberty of one man can never be the property of another.
All ideas of property are founded upon the mutual agreement of the human
race, and are regulated by such laws as are deemed most conducive to the
general good. In slavery there is no _mutual_ agreement; for in that
case it would not be slavery. The negro has no voice in the matter--no
alternative is presented to him--no bargain is made. The beginning of
his bondage is the triumph of power over weakness; its continuation is
the tyranny of knowledge over ignorance. One man may as well claim an
exclusive right to the air another man breathes, as to the possession
of his limbs and faculties. Personal freedom is the birthright of every
human being. God himself made it the first great law of creation; and
no human enactment can render it null and void. "If," says Price, "you
have a right to make another man a slave, he has a right to make you a
slave;" and Ramsay says, "If we have in the beginning no right to sell
a man, no person has a right to buy him."

Am I reminded that the _laws_ acknowledge these vested rights in human
flesh? I answer the laws themselves were made