I think a change already perceptible
since the origin of the present revolution. The spirit of the master
is abating, that of the slave is rising from the dust, his condition
mollifying, the way I hope preparing, under the auspices of Heaven, for
a total emancipation.
* * * * *
=_John Jay, 1745-1829._= (Manual, pp. 484, 486.)
From the "Address from the Convention." December 23, 1776.
=_65._= AN APPEAL TO ARMS.
Rouse, brave citizens! Do your duty like men; and be persuaded that
Divine Providence will not permit this western world to be involved in
the horrors of slavery. Consider that, from the earliest ages of the
world, religion, liberty, and reason have been bending their course
towards the setting sun. The holy Gospels are yet to be preached to
these western regions; and we have the highest reason to believe that
the Almighty will not suffer slavery and the gospel to go hand in hand.
It cannot, it will not be.
But if there be any among us dead to all sense of honor and love
of their country; if deaf to all the calls of liberty, virtue, and
religion; if forgetful of the magnanimity of their ancestors, and the
happiness of their children; if neither the examples nor the success of
other nations, the dictates of reason and of nature, or the great duties
they owe to their God, themselves, and their posterity have any effect
upon them; if neither the injuries they have received, the prize they
are contending for, the future blessings or curses of their children,
the applause or the reproach of all mankind, the approbation or
displeasure of the great Judge, or the happiness or misery consequent
upon their conduct, in this and a future state can move them,--then let
them be assured that they deserve to be slaves, and are entitled to
nothing but anguish and tribulation.
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