And finally, I am opposed to them, because there is no fairness, justice, truth, or righteousness in them.  The following is from the Detroit Free Press; and I shall give it without comment.  It is headed “THE MORALITY OF NEGRO-STEALING.”

“A novice might suppose, in witnessing the chuckle of satisfaction that has been noticeable among a certain class of people hereabouts within a few days back, that stealing is a virtue, and that the receiver of stolen goods is, par excellence, a model Christian.  And even a man of some experience in the world might doubt the morality of the precept “to do unto others as ye would that others should do unto you,” in view of the effrontery and impudence of those who regard negro stealing as a Christian duty.

“A paper in this city, which professes that the free soil party do not aim to attack the institution of slavery in those states where it exists, unblushingly published a few days since the proceedings of a meeting of free negroes, held on the occasion of the arrival here of a quantity of runaway negroes from some of the Southern States.  We say, unblushingly, because more than usual prominence was given to the proceedings in its columns.

“Now, there is no difference, under the Constitution and laws, between stealing negroes from Kentucky and stealing horses from Kentucky.  The Constitution of the United States and the laws of Kentucky hold one not less criminal than the other; and a paper in this city would be just precisely as justifiable in publishing the proceedings of a horse stealing society as the proceedings of a negro stealing society.  There is not less guilt involved in the one than the other.

“For our own part we are disposed to call things by their right names.  We believe that he who would be guilty of aiding and abetting the escape of a negro from his master, would not hesitate to steal any other property if he could do it with equal safety to himself.  The fact that slaveholding is a sin does not change the nature of the offense, because the Bible doctrine of submission to the powers that be, is a plain and unequivocal duty.  Negro stealing is as much a violation of the law of God as of the law of a Southern State.

“But we have not much faith in the Christianity of those abolitionists who steal negroes.  And the receiver of stolen goods is equally guilty with the thief.  Tom Corwin was not far out of the way (and it must be conceded that Mr. Corwin has had abundant opportunities to know) when he declared that ’they (the abolitionists) are a whining, canting, praying set of fellows who keep regular books of debit and credit with the Almighty.’  ‘They will,’ he says, ’lie and cheat all the week, and pray off their sins on Sunday.  If they steal a negro, that makes a very large entry to their credit, and will cover a multitude of peccadilloes and frauds.  This kind of entry they are always