--by the aid of the Colonization Society, by
Government, by individuals, or by any other means--then let them
be emancipated, and not before.'--[Lowell (Mass.) Telegraph.]

It is a self-evident proposition, that just so far as you alleviate the
pressure of guilt upon the consciences of evil doers, you weaken the
power of motive to repent, and encourage them to sin with impunity. To
descant upon the wrongs of the slave-system, and yet exonerate the
supporters of it from reprehension, is to deal in absurdities: we might
preach in this manner until the crack of doom, and never gain a convert.
Paradoxes may amuse, but they never convince the mind.

Now, I defy the most ingenious advocates of perpetual slavery to produce
stronger arguments in its favor than are given in the foregoing
extracts. What better plea could they make? what higher justification
could they need? Nay, these apologies of colonizationists represent
oppression not merely as innocent, but even commendable--as a system of
benevolence, upheld by philanthropists and sages!

'I do not condemn the detention of the slaves in bondage under the
circumstances which are yet existing,' says an advocate; by which
consolatory avowal we are taught that the criminality of man-stealing
depends upon _circumstances_, and not upon the fact that it is a daring
violation of the rights of man and the laws of God.

'The planter sees that the condition of the great mass of emancipated
Africans is one, in comparison with which the condition of his slaves is
_enviable_,' assert the Board of Managers!--a concession which
transforms robbery into generosity, cruelty into mercy, and leads the
slaveholder to believe that, instead of deserving censure, his conduct
is really meritorious!--a concession which is at war with common sense,
and contrary to truth.

'I am not complaining of the owners of slaves--I do not doubt that the
slaves are happier than they could be if set free in this country,'
declares an apologist, even in Massachusetts! Stripes and servitude
would doubtless soon alter his opinion. With him, to sell human beings
at public auction, and to separate husbands and wives, and children and
parents, is not a subject of complaint! and to be a slave, to be fed
upon a peck of corn per week, unable to possess property, liable to be
torn from the partner of his bosom and children at a moment's warning
mal-treated worse than a brute, &c. &c. &c. is more desirable than to