ANTI SLAVERY MANUAL, CONTAINING A COLLECTION OF FACTS AND ARGUMENTS ON AMERICAN SLAVERY. BY REV. LA ROY SUNDERLAND. Second Edition-Improved. NEW-YORK: PRINTED BY S. W. BENEDICT. 1837. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1837, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of New-York. PREFACE. In whatever points of view we look at the question of American Slavery, it assumes an aspect of the greatest importance. If it merely affected the temporal interests of the enslaved, or the present peace and safety of the enslavers, it would present claims upon the attention of this entire nation, which no well informed politician, no true patriot, could find it possible to pass by without the most serious and candid examination. But this momentous question reaches beyond the grave; it involves consequences as real as the unending displeasure of the offended Deity, or the bliss of everlasting life. How, then, can the faithful Watchman upon the walls of Zion, deny to this subject that consideration which its awful importance demands? How can it be consistent for professing Christians to seek for a knowledge of the condition of the heathen, in foreign lands, when they may know, and should know, that a nation of heathen, without the Bible, and, generally, without the means of grace, are here-in their very midst ? The design of this book is to give a succinct view of the question of American Slavery, with which it concerns every man, woman, and child, in this Christian Republic, to be familiarly acquainted. In selecting such facts as it was deemed proper to present on this subject, the author found it necessary to abridge a large mass of matter, which he had originally prepared for this work, Hence, the reader will find here, that number of facts only, which is barely sufficient to give a connected view of the question under notice, and by no means all that might be presented upon it. The author hopes this little book may not prove an unacceptable vade mecum, to all the friends of the AntiSlavery cause, and especially to Anti-Slavery Agents, and others who may wish to plead the cause of God's suffering poor. "Facts are stubborn things." Those here offered for the notice of the reader, will speak for themselves. If the arguments in the following pages are deemed incon clusive, it remains for our opponents to confute them. · New-York, March 27, 1837. |