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frequently very specious. No one thinks of finding a foundation for the
system in the principles of truth and justice; and the unavoidable
result is, that even in _policy_ it is unsound. The monstrous fabric
rests on the mere _appearance_ of present expediency; while, in fact,
all its tendencies, individual and national, present and remote, are
highly injurious to the true interests of the country. The slave-owner
will not believe this. The stronger the evidence against his favorite
theories, the more strenuously he defends them. It has been wisely said,
"Honesty _is_ the best policy; but policy without honesty never finds
that out."

I hope none will be so literal as to suppose I intend to say that no
planter can be honest, in the common acceptation of that term. I simply
mean that all who ground their arguments in policy, and not in duty and
plain truth, are really blind to the highest and best interests of man.

Among other apologies for slavery, it has been asserted that the Bible
does not forbid it. Neither does it forbid the counterfeiting of a
bank-bill. It is the _spirit_ of the Holy Word, not its particular
_expressions_, which must be a rule for our conduct. How can slavery
be reconciled with the maxim, "Do unto others, as ye would that others
should do unto you?" Does not the command, "Thou shalt not _steal_,"
prohibit _kidnapping_? And how does whipping men to death agree with the
injunction, "Thou shalt do no _murder_?" Are we not told "to loose the
bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go
free, and to break every yoke?" It was a Jewish law that he who stole a
man, or sold him, or he in whose hands the stolen man was found, should
suffer death; and he in whose house a fugitive slave sought an asylum
was forbidden to give him up to his master. Modern slavery is so unlike
Hebrew servitude, and its regulations are so diametrically opposed to
the rules of the Gospel, which came to bring deliverance to the captive,
that it is idle to dwell upon this point. The advocates of this system
seek for arguments in the history of every age and nation; but the fact
is, negro-slavery is totally different from any other form of bondage
that ever existed; and if it were not so, are we to copy the evils of
bad governments and benighted ages?

The difficulty of subduing slavery, on account of the great number of
interests which become united in it, and the prodigious strength of
the selfis