CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR. HOWE. 613 



deed, I think it hardly exists. I hear, too, that 

 several of our prominent anti-slavery gentle- 

 men, worthy of respect for their zeal and abil- 

 ity, have publicly advocated the doctrines of 

 amalgamation ; but I do not know upon what 

 grounds. 



I do, indeed, hold that in this, as in other 

 matters, we are to do the manifest right, re- 

 gardless of consequences. If you ask me who 

 is to decide what is the manifest right, I an- 

 swer, that in morals, as well as in mathematics, 

 there are certain truths so simple as to be ad- 

 mitted at sight as axioms by every one of 

 common intelligence and honesty. The right 

 to life is as clear as that two and two make 

 four, and none dispute it. The right to liberty 

 and to ownership of property fairly earned is 

 just as clear to the enlightened mind as that 

 5 X 6 = 30 ; but the less enlightened may re- 

 quire to reflect about it, just as they may want 

 concrete signs to show that five times six do 

 really make thirty. As we ascend in numbers 

 and in morals, the intuitive perceptions be- 

 come less and less ; and though the truths are 

 there, and ought to be admitted as axiomatic, 

 they are not at once seen and felt by ordinary 

 minds. 



Now so far as the rights of blacks and the 



