is less to be expected from a diminished demand for slave produce than
from the moral effects of a steadfast abhorrence of slavery itself, and
from an unwavering and consistent opposition to it, this meeting would
earnestly recommend, that in all cases where it is practicable, a
decided preference should be given to the products of free labor, by all
who enter their protest against slavery, so that at least they
themselves may be clear of any participation in the guilt of the system,
and be thus morally strengthened in their condemnation of it.' At the
close of the revolutionary war, all the states of America were
slaveholding states. In Massachusetts, some benevolent white man caused
a slave to try an action for wages in a court of justice. He succeeded,
and the consequence was, that slavery fell in Massachusetts. It was then
universally acknowledged that slavery was a sin and shame, and ought to
be abolished, and it was expected that it would be soon abolished in
every state of the Union. Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, and Benjamin
Franklin would not allow the word 'slave' to occur in the constitution,
and Mr. Edwards, from the pulpit, clearly and broadly denounced slavery.
And when he (Professor Stowe) was a boy, in Massachusetts the negro
children were admitted to the same schools with the whites. Although
there was some prejudice of color then, yet it was not so strong as at
present. In 1818, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church in the
United States passed, resolutions against slavery far stronger than
those passed at the meeting this evening, and every man, north and
south, voted for them. What had caused the change? It was the
profitableness of the cotton trade. It was that which had spread the
chains of slavery over the Union, and silenced the church upon the
subject. He had been asked, what right had Great Britain to interfere?
Why, Great Britain took four fifths of the cotton of America, and
therefore sustained four fifths of the slavery. That gave them a right
to interfere. [Hear, hear!] He admitted that our participation in the