Liberator.

THE SPIRIT OF SEVENTY-SIX

The following extract we venture to make from a long epistle recently addressed to us, by the venerable GEORGE BENSON of Brooklyn, Connecticut, the present estimable President of the New-England Anti-Slavery Society. He is an abolitionist of the old school, and commenced at the earliest period with Clarkson and Wilberforce, for the suppression of the foreign slave trade. Although far advanced in years, he is in vigorous possession of his mental faculties; and his hand writing is firm and plain, to a marvel.

“I observed in a late Boston paper, that the annual meeting of the Peace Society was to convene in that city. Several weeks since I addressed a letter to a friend in Hartford, who is actively engaged in the Pacific cause, and informed him that I considered the cause of Peace and the abolition of Slavery to be so inseparably connected, that wherever one society existed, the other should be located  in its vicinity; and my opinion originates from the import of the sacred hymn, chanted by the angelic host at the advent of our blessed Saviour—‘Peace on earth and good will to men. ’ And how can we exercise this good will on a more important and urgent occasion, than to rescue our fellow men from the matchless and oppressive cruelties of slavery?

It is universally admitted that the first Congress in the United States was composed of the most pure and enlightened citizens, who, on the 6 ^th of July, 1775, announced the following sentiments:

‘If it were possible for men, who exercise their reason, to believe that the Divine Author of our existence intended a part of the human race to hold an absolute property in, and unbounded power over others, marked out by infinite goodness and wisdom, as the objects of a legal domination never rightfully resistible, however severe and oppressive—the inhabitants of these Colonies might at least require from the Parliament of Great Britain, some evidence that this dreadful authority over them has been granted to that body.’

May not the poor slaves emphatically adopt the same inquiry of their lordly oppressors?

Again, in 1779, a pamphlet appeared, published by order of Congress, which contains the following opinion:

‘The great principle (of government) is, that men are by nature free, as accountable to Him that made them, they must be so, and so long as we have any idea of Divine Justice, we must associate that of human freedom.’

Now, it appears evident to me, that the above recited sentiments authorize and sanction an avowed opposition to slavery, and even censure those who think otherwise, as being destitute of any correct opinion of Divine Justice.