apt to be contracted, and families begin to increase, while all children born to parents in a state of bondage, must remain under bonds until the same periods in which their parents are allowed to go free, to wit: the females at 25, and the males at 28; the blacks then lose that part of their time which is the most proper to cultivate their minds with useful learning, and to lay up something for the support of their families. But when persons pass the age of twenty-eight, without learning and without any property, they are not liable to make proficiency in the acquisition of either.

Third-The holders of such slaves, having no prospect of deriving any profit from them after their 28th year, are liable, not only to entirely neglect their education, but also to treat them with great severity, in order to extort from them as much profit as they possibly can, before the time of their emancipation.

On account then, of 28 years of slavery, and the ignorance and degradation which are consequences of it; on account also of the loss of seven years, at a time most favorable to receive the rudiments of education, and to prepare something for the support of families, we cannot expect that a law which emancipates the slaves at the age of 28 years, and will admit of their being kept in ignorance and misery to that time, will do inuch to promote either the temporal or eternal happiness of the blacks.

CONCLUSION.

Let all the warm and zealous friends of emancipation take heed to themselves, and examine their own hearts as to the foundations they are building upon for eternal life. Although slaveholding will without repentance and reformation take a man to hell, a warm zeal and active service in the business of emancipation will not take a man to heaven. By the deeds of the law no flesh can be justified. If our zeal and activity in the cause of emancipation, is joined with a faith's reliance on the atoning sacrifice of Christ, for the justification of our persons, a regard to the word of God, as a rule of duty and a dependence on the Holy Spirit for strength to lead holy lives, and that agreeable to the Divine rule, we do actually lead holy

lives-lives of habitual conformity to the will of God, and faithfulness towards men; then our persons and services will be acceptable in the sight of God, and in particular our zeal and activity in the cause of emancipation will be accepted as a pleasing sacrifice, and great will be our reward in heaven. But on the contrary, if our religion consists chiefly in contending for civil liberty in opposition to the tyranny of slaveholders, while we remain unconcerned for the spiritual liberty of our own souls, and regardless of a holy life, we may expect without fail to have our part and portion with slaveholders, through the lasting ages of eternity. But what will still add to our degradation, we will not then occupy even the rank of slaveholders, but it will be that of slaves-slaves to the devil, and be bound in the chains of eternal justice, to suffer a just retribution for our. aggravated guilt, and in particular for our abuse of that liberty, for which we have so zealously contended in behalf of others.

11*

THE NEGRO.

And shall the beams of science never shed,
Their light benign upon the negro's head,
Or is he destined still through life to roam,
Bereft of hope beyond the silent tomb.

Far from his home, across the Atlantic deep,
To foreign climes, by rude oppression borne,
The negro toils, and oft in silence weeps,
Weeps for those joys, that never more return.

Perhaps a sire, perhaps a mother dear,
Now deeply drain the bitter cup of wo,

For their dear child, starts forth the trickling tear,
For him, their son, their ceaseless sorrows flow.

Hard is that heart that thus without a sigh,
To slavery's chains, his fellow man condemns,
Forms not his mind to range the spheres on high,
But leaves it deep in hopeless gloom o'erwhelmed.

O must his toughts survey no brighter skies,
Where pleasures dwell, where endless glories rise,
Where the Redeemer sits enthroned above,
In realms of light, the home of bliss and love.

O when will every clime and every plain,
Be cheer'd by liberty's endearing ray,

When will strict justice force its righteous claim,
And mercy mild, resume its long lost sway.

Columbia speak, let slavery's dirge be sung
Wide o'er the world. The joyful sound begun,
Shall bid the age of crime and suff'ring cease,
And hail the reign of freedom and of peace.

HARP OF INDIANA.

APPENDIX.

THE foregoing view of slavery is by no means the ef fect of prejudice, against slaveholders in general, or against any individuals of that class of citizens. The writer nev. er had any ground of complaint against them, of a personal nature, but on the contrary has had experience of as polite treatment from slaveholders as from any others with whom he has been conversant; but in reflecting on the civilities of slaveholders towards himself, compared with their treatment of the slaves, he has been led seriously to inquire into the fundamental reason of the strange disparity, and put the question to himself, "What is the reason these people treat me with so much kindness, while it cannot be in return for any service I have ever done to them. It cannot be because my complexion is white, while that of the Africans is black, for we find persons among them in a state of slavery of all shades of color, from the deepest black down to such a degree of white, that a tinge of African blood can hardly be discovered. The blacks are daily doing them service, but they neither make them a just restitution, nor show them any civilities. This seems like inverting the order of moral equity. Their politeness to me, and harshness to the slaves, cannot be attributed to a supreme regard to the law of God as a general rule of duty, for that requires justice before liberality; neither can it arise from a prineiple of obedience to that second great command, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself;" for that command would lead them to act impartially to all both black and white. I then conclude that this kind treatment must

arise from self love or a wish to have a great name, for persons of much liberality and great benevolence, and also to display their own magnificence. Therefore, the great reason why they do not hold me in the same condition of wretchedness with their slaves, is because I am not in their power, but had they an opportunity of subjecting me to the same servile and degraded condition with their slaves, they would, without fail, do it.

LAWS OF KENTUCKY AND VIRGINIA RELATIVE TO SLAVERY.

VOL. 2, chap. 63, section 2—“No negro or mulatto shall be a witness, except in plea of the common wealth against negroes or mulattoes, or in civil pleas, where negroes or mulattoes alone shall be parties." This law though essential to the existence of slavery is directly opposed to the right of man, and to the moral law, which binds every man according to his knowledge of facts, to bear witness in defence of the innocent, and for the conviction of the guilty; this is a duty which all men owe to both God and their neighbors."

Levit. v. 1: "And if a soul sin, and hear the voice of swearing, and is witness whether he hath seen or known of it, if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity." Proverbs xxxi. 8, 9: "Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction, open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy." When the slaves are rendered incapable of bearing testimony in a cause pending before a court, they cannot bear the iniquity, but it devolves with peculiar weight upon the heads of those that prevent them.

Section 3. "No slaves shall go from the tenements of his master or other person with whom he lives without a pass, or some letter or token whereby it may appear that he is proceeding by authority from his master or employer; if he does, it shall be lawful for any person to apprehend and carry him before a justice of the peace, to be by his order punished with stripes or not, in his dis cretion."

Section 4. "And if any slave shall presume to come and be upon the plantation of any person whatsoever; without leave in writing from his or her owner or over