We cheerfully insert the following letter from an intelligent
New Englander at the South.
_To the Editor of the New York Observer._
I am apprehensive that many of your readers, who feel a
lively interest in the welfare of the slaves, are not
correctly and fully informed as to their amount of religious
instruction. From the speeches of Mr. Thompson and others,
they might be led to believe that slaves in our Southern
States never read a Bible, hear a gospel sermon, or partake
of a gospel ordinance. It is to be hoped, however, that
little credit will be given to such misrepresentations,
notwithstanding the zeal and industry with which they are
disseminated.
What has been done on a single plantation.
I will now inform your readers what has been done, and is now
doing, for the moral and religious improvement of the slaves
on a single plantation, with which I am well acquainted, and
these few facts may serve as a commentary on the unsupported
assertions of Mr. Thompson and others. And here I could wish
that all who are so ready to denounce every man that is so
unfortunate as to be born to a heritage of slaves, could go
to that plantation, and see with their own eyes, and hear
with their own ears, the things which I despair of adequately
describing. Truly, I think they would be more inclined, and
better qualified to use those weapons of light and love which
have been so ably and justly commended to their hands.
On this plantation there are from 150 to 200 slaves, the
finest looking body that I have seen on any estate. Their
master and mistress have felt for years how solemn are the
responsibilities connected with such a charge; and they have
not shrunk from meeting them. The means used for their
spiritual good, are abundant. They enjoy the constant
preaching of the gospel. A young minister of the Presbyterian
church, who has received a regular collegiate and theological
education, is laboring among them, and derives his entire
support from the master, with the exception of a trifling sum
which he receives for preaching one Sabbath in each month for
a neighboring church. On the Sabbath, and during the week,
you may see them filling the place of worship, from the man
of grey hairs to the small child, all neatly and comfortably
clothed, listening with respectful, and in many cases, eager
attention to the truth as it is in Jesus, delivered in terms
adapted to their capacities, and in a manner suited to their
peculiar habits, feelings and circumstances; engaging with
solemnity and propriety in the solemn exercise of prayer, and
mingling their melodious voices in the hymn of praise.
Sitting among them are the white members of the family
encouraging them by their attendance, manifesting their
interest in the exercises, and their anxiety for the eternal
well-being of their people. Of the whole number, forty-five
or fifty have made a profession of religion, and others are
evidently deeply concerned.
Let me now conduct you to a Bible class of ten or twelve
adults who can read, met with their Bibles to study and have
explained to them the word of God. They give unequivocal
demonstrations of much interest in their employment, and of
an earnest desire to understand and remember what they read.
From hence we will go to another room, where are assembled
eighteen to twenty lads, attending upon catechetical
instruction, conducted by their young master. Here you will
notice many intelligent countenances, and will be struck with
the promptitude and correctness of their answers.
But the most interesting spectacle is yet before you. It is
to be witnessed in the Infant School Room, nicely fitted up
and supplied with the customary cards and other
appurtenances. Here every day in the week, you may find
twenty-five or thirty children, neatly clad and wearing
bright and happy faces. And as you notice their correct
deportment, hear their unhesitating replies to the questions
proposed, and above all when they unite their sweet voices in
their touching songs, if your heart is not affected and your
eyes do not fill, you are the hardest-hearted and driest-eyed
visitor that has ever been there. But who is their teacher?
Their mistress, a lady whose amiable Christian character and
most gifted and accomplished mind and manners are surpassed
by none. From day to day, month to month, and year to year,
she has cheerfully left her splendid halls and circle of
friends, to visit her school room, where, standing up before
those young immortals, she trains them in the way in which
they should go, and leads them to Him who said, "suffer
little children to come unto me."
From the Infant School room, we will walk through a beautiful
lawn half a mile, to a pleasant grove commanding a view of
miles in extent. Here is a brick chapel, rising for the
accommodation of this interesting family; sufficiently large
to receive two or three hundred hearers. When completed, in
beauty and convenience it will be surpassed by few churches
in the Southern country.
On the plantation you might also see other things of great
interest. Here a negro is the overseer. Marriages are
regularly contracted. No negro is sold, except as a
punishment for bad behavior, and a dreaded one it is. None is
bought, save for the purpose of uniting families. Here you
will near no clanking of chains, no cracking of whips; (I
have never seen a blow struck on the estate,) and here last,
but not least, you will find a flourishing Temperance
Society, embracing almost every individual on the premises.
And yet the "Christianity of the South is a chain-forging, a
whip-plaiting, marriage discouraging, Bible-withholding
Christianity!"
I have confined myself to a single plantation. But I might
add many most interesting facts in regard to others, and the
state of feeling in general, but I forbear.
Yours, &c
A NEW ENGLAND MAN.
He would now connect the peculiar and local facts of the preceding
statement, with the whole community of slave holders, in the same
State, and show by competent and disinterested testimony, the real
and common state of things. The following extracts were from a letter
printed in the New York Observer, of July 25, 1835:
I have resided eight years in South Carolina, and have an
extensive acquaintance with the planters of the middle and
low country. I have seen much of slavery, and feel competent
to speak in regard to many facts connected with it.
What your correspondent has stated of the condition of one
plantation, is in its essential points a common case
throughout the whole circle of my acquaintance.
The negroes generally, in this State, are well fed, well
clothed, and have the means of religious instruction.
According to my best judgment, the work which a slave here is
required to do, amounts to about one third the ordinary labor
commonly performed by a New England farmer. A similar
comparison would hold true in regard to the labor of
domestics. In the family where I reside, consisting of nine
white persons, seven slaves are employed to do the work. This
is a common case.
In the village where I live, there are about four hundred
slaves, and they generally attend church. More than one
hundred of them are members of the church. Perhaps two
hundred are assembled every Sabbath in the Sunday Schools. In
my own Sunday School are about sixty, and most of them
professors of religion. They are perfectly accessible and
teachable. In the town of my former residence, in New
England, there were three hundred free blacks. No more than
eight or ten of these were professors of religion, and not
more than twice that number could generally be induced to
attend church. They could not be induced to send their
children to the district schools, which were always open to
them, nor could they generally be hired to work. They are
thievish, wretched and troublesome. I have no hesitation in
saying, and I say it deliberately, it would be a great
blessing to them to exchange conditions with the slaves of
the village in which I now live. Their intellectual and moral
characters, and real means of improvement, would be promoted
by the exchange.
There are doubtless some masters who treat their slaves
cruelly in this State, but they are exceptions to the general
fact. Public opinion is in a wholesome state and the man who
does not treat his slaves kindly, is disgraced.
Great and increasing efforts are made to instruct the slaves
in religion, and elevate their characters. Missionaries are
employed solely for their benefit. It is very common for
ministers to preach in the forenoon to the whites, and in the
afternoon of every Sabbath to the blacks. The slaves of my
acquaintance are generally contented and happy. The master is
reprobated who will divide families. Many thousands of slaves
of this State give evidence of piety. In many churches they
form the majority. Thousands of them give daily thanks to God
that they or their fathers were brought to this land of
slavery.
And now, perhaps, I ought to add, that I am not a
slave-holder, and do not intend to continue in a slave
country; but wherever I may be, I intend to speak the TRUTH.
The next document related particularly to _Virginia_,--the largest and
most powerful of the Slave States; but had also a general reference to
the whole south, and the whole question at issue. The sentiments it
contained were entitled to extraordinary consideration, on account of
the source of them. Mr. Van Renselear, was the son of one of the most
wealthy and distinguished citizens of the great free state of New
York. He had gone to Virginia, to preach to the slaves. He had every
where succeeded; was every where beloved by the slaves, and honored by
their masters. He had access to perhaps forty plantations,--on which
he from time to time preached,--and which might have been doubled,
had his strength been equal to the work. In the midst of his
usefulness--the storm of abolition arose. Mr. Thompson, like some
baleful star landed on our shores; organized a reckless agitation,
made many at the north frantic with folly--and as many at the south
furious with passion. Mr. Van Renselear, like many others, saw a storm
raging which they had no power to control; and like them withdrew from
his benevolent labors. The following brief statements made by him at a
great meeting of the colonization society of New York, exhibit his own
view of the conduct and duty of the parties.
The Rev. Cortlandt Van Renselear, formerly of Albany, but who
has lately resided in Virginia, addressed the meeting, and
after alluding to the difference of opinion which prevailed
among the friends of Colonization, touching the present
condition and treatment of the colored population in this
country, proceeded to offer reasons why the people of the
North should approach their brethren in the South, who held
the control of the colored population, with defference, and
in a spirit of kindness and conciliation.
These reasons were briefly as follows: 1. Because the people
of the South had not consented to the original introduction
of slaves into the country, but had solemnly, earnestly, and
repeatedly remonstrated against it. 2. Because having been
born in the presence of slavery, and accustomed to it from
their infancy, they could not be expected to view it in the
same light as we view it at the North. 3. Slavery being there
established by law, it was not in the power of individuals to
act in regard to it as their personal feelings might dictate.
The evil had not been eradicated from the state of New York
all at once: It had been a gradual process, commencing with
the law 1799 and not consumated until 1827. Ought we to
denounce our Southern neighbors if they refuse to do the work
at a blow? 4. The constitution of the United States tolerated
slavery, in its articles apportioning representation with
reference to the slave population, and requiring the
surrender of runaway slaves. 5. Slavery had been much
mitigated of late years, and the condition of the slave
population much ameliorated. Its former rigor was almost
unknown, at least in Virginia, and it was lessening
continually. It was not consistent with truth to represent
the slaves as groaning day and night under the lash of
tyranical task-masters. And as to being kept in perfect
ignorance, Mr. V. had seldom seen a plantation where some of
the slaves could not read, and where they were not encouraged
to learn. In South Carolina, where it was said the gospel was
systematically denied to the slaves, there were twenty
thousand of them church members in the Methodist denomination
alone. He knew a small church where out of 70 communicants,
50 were in slavery. 6. There were very great difficulties
connected with the work of Abolition. The relations of
slavery had ramified themselves through all the relations of
society. The slaves were comparatively very ignorant; their
character degraded; and they were unqualified for immediate
freedom. A blunder in such a concern as universal abolition,
would be no light matter. Mr. V. here referred to the result
of experience and personal observation on the mind of the
well-known Mr. Parker, late a minister of this city, but now
of New-Orleans. He had left this city for the South with the
feeling of an immediate abolitionist; but he had returned
with his views wholly changed. After seeing slavery and
slave-holders, and that at the far South, he now declared the
idea of immediate and universal abolition to be a gross
absurdity. To liberate the two and a half millions of slaves
in the midst of us, would be just as wise and as humane, as
it would be for the father of a numerous family of young
children to take them to the front door, and there bidding
them good bye, tell them they were free, and send them out
into the world to provide for and govern themselves. 7.
Foreign interference was, of necessity, a delicate thing, and
ought ever to be attempted with the utmost caution. 8. There
was a large amount of unfeigned Christian anxiety at the
South to obey God and do good to man. There were many tears
and prayers continually poured out over the condition of
their colored people, and the most earnest desire to mitigate
their sorrows. Were such persons to be approached with
vituperation and anathemas? 9. There was no reason why all
our sympathies should be confined to the colored race and
utterly withheld from our white southern brethren. The
apostle Paul exhibited no such spirit. 10. A regard to the
interest of the slaves themselves dictated a cautious and
prudent and forbearing course. It called for conciliation:
for the fate of the slaves depended on the will of their
masters, nor could the north prevent it. The late laws
against teaching the slaves to read had not been passed until
the Southern people found inflamatory publications
circulating among the colored people. 11. The spirit of the
gospel forbade all violence, abuse and threatening. The
apostles had wished to call fire from heaven on those they
considered as Christ's enemies; but the Saviour, instead of
approving this fiery zeal, had rebuked it. 12. These Southern
people, who were represented as so grossly violating all
Christian duty, had been the subjects of gracious blessings
from God in the outpourings of his Spirit. 13. When God
convinced men of error, he did it in the spirit of mercy; we
ought to endeavor to do the same thing in the same spirit.
The only remaining testimony relates to the states of Louisiana and
Mississippi, in the south west. The letter from which it is taken is
written by a son of that Mr. Finley, who perhaps more than any one
else, set on foot the original scheme of African colonization; and
whose name, as a man of pure and enlarged benevolence and wisdom, the
enemies of his plans quote with respect. The son well deserves to have
had such a father.
_New-Orleans, March 12, 1835._
In my former letter I gave you some account of the leading
characters amongst the free people of color who recently
sailed from this port in the Brig "Rover." for Liberia. I
then promised you in my next to give you some account of the
emancipated slaves who sailed in the same expedition. This
promise I will now endeavor to fulfil, and I will begin with
the case of an individual emancipation, and then state the
case of an emancipated family, and conclude with an account
of the emancipation of several families by the same
individual.
The first case alluded to is that of a young woman
emancipated by the last will and testament of the late Judge
James Workman, of this city, the same who left a legacy of
ten thousand dollars to the American Colonization Society.
Judge Workman's will contains the following clause in
relation to her, viz:--"I request my statu liber, Kitty, a
quarteroon girl, to be set free as soon as convenient. And I
request my executors may send her, as she shall prefer, and
they think best, either to the Colonization Society at
Norfolk, to be sent to Liberia or to Hayti; and if she prefer
remaining in Louisiana, that they may endeavor to have an act
passed for her emancipation; if the same cannot be attained
otherwise; and it is my will that the sum of three hundred
dollars be paid to her after she shall be capable of
receiving the same. I request my executors to hold in their
hands money for this purpose. I particularly request my
friend John G. Greene to take charge of this girl, and do the
best for her that he can." Mr. Greene provided her with a
handsome outfit, carefully attended to her embarkation, and
the shipment of her freight, and placed her under the care of
the Rev. Gloster Simpson.
The next case, alluded to above, is that of a family of
eleven slaves emancipated for faithful and meritorious
services, by the will of of the late Mrs. Bullock, of
Claiborne county, Miss. Mrs. Moore, the sister and executrix
of Mrs. Bullock's estate, gave them 700 dollars to furnish an
outfit and give them a start in the colony.
The third and last case alluded to above, consisted of
several families, amounting in the whole to 26 individual
slaves belonging to the estate of the late James Green, of
Adams county, Mississipi. The following interesting
circumstances concerning their liberation, were communicated
to me by James Railey, Esq., the brother-in-law and acting
executor of Mr. Green's Estate. Mr. Green died on the 15th of
May, 1832, the proprietor of about 130 slaves, and left Mr.
Railey, his brother-in-law, and his sisters, Mrs. Railey and
Mrs. Wood, executors of his last will and testament. Mr.
Green's will provides for the unconditional emancipation of
but one of his slaves--a faithful and intelligent man named
Granger, whom Mr. Green had raised and taught to read, write,
and keep accounts. He acted as foreman for his master for
about five years previous to his death. Mr. Green, by his
will, left him 3000 dollars, on condition that he went to
Liberia, otherwise, 2000 dollars. Provision was also made in
the will for securing to him his wife. Granger has been
employed since the death of Mr. Green, until recently, as
overseer for Mr. Railey, at a salary of 600 dollars per
annum. Granger declines going to Liberia at present on
account of the unwillingness of his mother to go there. She
is very aged and infirm, and he is very much attached to her.
She was a favorite slave of Mr. Green's mother, who
emancipated her and left her a legacy of 1000 dollars.
Granger came to this city with Mr. Railey to see his friends
and former fellow-servants embark: and when he bade them
farewell, he said, with a very emphatic tone and manner, "I
will follow you in about 18 months."
The executors of Mr. Green's estate were by no means slack in
meeting the testator's wishes concerning these people. Mr.
Railey accompanied them to New-Orleans, and both he and Mrs.
Wood, who also was in New-Orleans while they were preparing
to embark, took a lively and active interest in providing
them with everything necessary for their comfort on the
voyage, and their welfare after their arrival in the Colony,
and placed in my hand 7000 dollars for their benefit, one
thousand dollars of which were appropriated towards the
charter of a vessel to convey them to the Colony, with the
privilege of 140 barrels freight--sixteen hundred dollars
towards the purchase of an outfit, consisting of mechanics'
tools, implements of agriculture, household furniture,
medicines, clothing, &c., and the remaining four thousand
four hundred dollars, partly invested in trade, goods, and
partly in specia, were shipped and consigned to the Governor
of Liberia, for their benefit, with an accompanying
memorandum made out by Mr. Railey, showing how much was each
one's portion.
I will close this communication by relating one additional
circumstance communicated to me by Mr. Railey, to show the
interest felt by Mr. Green in the success of the scheme of
African Colonization. The day previous to his death, he
requested Mr. Railey to write a memorandum of several things
which he wished done after his death, which memorandum
contains the following clause, viz:--"After executing all my
wishes as expressed by Will, by this memorandum, and by
verbal communications, I sincerely hope there will be a
handsome sum left for benefitting the emancipated negroes
emigrating from this State to Liberia; and to that end I have
more concern than you are aware of."
I am authorized by the Executors to state that there will be
a residuum to Mr. Green's estate of twenty or thirty-five
thousand dollars, which they intend to appropriate in
conformity with the views of Mr. Green expressed above.
Yours, &c.,
ROBERT S. FINLEY.
And now I rest the case, and commit the result to an enlightened
public. Here are my proofs and arguments showing as I believe
conclusively, that the slanderous accusations against my country and
my brethren which I have come to this city to repel,--are not only
false, but incredible. Here are my testimonials, few and casually
gathered up, but yet, as it seems to me, irresistibly convincing, that
the people and churches of America--in the very thing charged,--have
been and are acting, a wise, self-denying and humane part. That they
should move onward in it as rapidly as the happiness of all the
parties will allow, must be the wish of all good men. That obstacles
should be interposed through the error, the imprudence, or the
violence of well meaning but ill-judging persons, is truly deplorable.
But that we should be traduced before the whole world, when we are
innocent; that we should first be forced into most difficult
circumstances, and then forced to manage those circumstances in such a
way as to cause our certain ruin, by the very same people; or in
default of submitting to both requirments, be forced first into war,
and afterwards into a state of bitter mutual contention, only less
dreadful than war itself, is outrageous and intolerable. While we
justly complain of these things, we discharge ourselves of the guilt
attributed to us, and acquit ourselves to God and our consciences, of
all the fatal consequences likely to follow such conduct.
* * * * *
MR. THOMPSON rose, and spoke in nearly the following words:
_Mr. Chairman_,
If I were to say that I rose on the present occasion without a feeling
of anxiety regarding the issue of the discussion now drawing to a
close, I should say what is not the truth. I cannot remember that I
ever stood before an auditory in a more interesting or responsible
position. The question before us is one of momentous magnitude; and
that branch of it which to-night claims our special attention, is of
all others, the most solemn and delicate. I am, therefore, anxious,
deeply anxious, respecting the impression which shall rest upon the
minds of this assembly, when I have occupied the attention of yourself
and of it, for a portion of time equal to that which has been expended
by my opponent. If, however, I were to say that I rose with any
feeling of alarm in the contemplation of the result of that ordeal
through which I am about to pass, I should speak that which would be
equally at variance with the truth. So far from indulging any fear, or
wishing to propitiate this audience, I pray that for the sake of
truth, humanity, and the country represented by my opponent; for the
sake of our character in the sight of God at the audit of the great
day; there may be a severe, jealous and impartial judgment formed,
according to the evidence which shall be submitted. Or, if it be
impossible to hold the balance strictly even, I ask that the bias for
the present, may be in favor of my opponent. It is true, I am not an
American. It is true, I was in the United States but fourteen months.
It is true, I never crossed the Potomac; never saw a slave, unless
that slave had been brought to the North by some temporary resident.
Receive, therefore, with caution and suspicion my statements. Let
there be every discount upon my assertions which my youth and
rashness, my want of observation and experience demand. At the same
time I ask that every proper degree of respect shall be paid to the
witnesses I shall bring before you; and that however my testimony may
be doubted, theirs at least may have the weight which their character,
and station, and opportunities shall appear to entitle them to.
I am accused of monstrous injustice towards America, when I say that
in that country slavery wears its most horrid forms. In saying this, I
must not be understood as speaking according to the actual physical
condition of the slave, or even of his legal and political condition,
apart from the religion and institutions of the land in which he
lives. I judge not by the number of links in his chain; the number of
lashes inflicted on his back; the nature of his toil, or the quality
or quantity of his food. It is, when irrespective of the treatment of
the body, I find two millions of human beings regarded as merchandise;
ranked with the beasts of the field, and reduced by the neglect of
their immortal minds to the condition of heathens; it is when I find
this awful system in full operation, surrounded by the barriers and
safeguards of the Law and the Constitution, in the United States of
North America; the land of Republicanism, and Christianity, and
Revivals, that I say, Slavery in America wears a form more horrid than
in any other part of the world. Yes, Sir; when I am told that in that
land, liberty is enjoyed to a greater extent than in any other
country; that the principles on which this liberty and independence
rest are these: "God created all men free and equal." "Resistance to
Tyrants is obedience to God;" and see also two millions of captives;
their dungeon barred and watched by proud Republicans, and boasting
Christians; I turn with horror and indignation away, exclaiming as I
quit the sickening scene, Slavery wears its most loathsome form in the
United States of America!
Before I come to that portion of my Address which I shall present as a
reply to Mr. Breckinridge, I beg to say one word in vindication of the
character and temper of American Abolitionists; and I am glad on this
occasion to be able to cite the testimony of a gentleman, whom Mr.
Breckinridge has not declined to call his friend; I mean James G.
Birney, Esq., formerly residing in the same State with Mr. B., and now
in Cincinnati. Mr. Birney made a visit to the North last year, for the
purpose of ascertaining for himself, by actual observation and
intercourse, the real character of the Abolitionists, and the manner
in which they prosecuted their work. Having done this, he thus writes:
Last spring I attended the Ohio Anti-Slavery Convention; was
present at the several meetings of the American Anti-Slavery
Society in New York, and at the Anti-Slavery Convention held
in Boston. On these several occasions, I became acquainted,
and deliberated with, it may be, not less than one thousand
persons, who may be fairly set down as among the most
intelligent of the abolitionists. Subjects on which the most
diverse opinions were entertained, and which to ambitious and
untrained minds would be agitating and dissensious in the
extreme, were discussed with the most calm and unruffled
composure. And while some of the leading journals were
teeming with the foulest and the falsest charges of moral and
political turpitude; while there were produced in their
assemblies placards, calling on the mob for appropriate
deeds, and designating the time and place of holding their
meetings, that its violence might know at what point it might
most effectually spend itself; yet, never elsewhere have I
seen so much of sedate deliberation of sober conclusion, of
dignified moderation, sanctified by earnest prayer to God,
not only for the oppressed, but for the oppressor of his
fellow; not only for such as they loved, but for their
slanderers, and persecutors, and enemies.
The above is a fair account, so far as my knowledge enables
me to speak, of the character of those whom you are pleased
to describe "a band of fanatical abolitionists." Light and
rash minds, unaccustomed to penetrate to the real causes of
great revolutions in public sentiment, will, of course, think
and speak contemptuously of them, while the philosophic
observer clearly sees, that such antagonists of error, armed
with so powerful a weapon as the Truth, must, at all times,
be invincible; and that in the end they will be triumphant.
A word, too, before I come to the state of the churches, with regard
to Mr. Breckinridge's concluding topic last evening; to which I had
not, of course, any opportunity to reply; and, as the time allotted
for this discussion is now determined, I shall be permitted to dwell a
few moments on the subject. Mr. Breckinridge did, I am ready to
acknowledge, with tolerable fairness, state the views of the
abolitionists with regard to prejudice against color; that it was
sinful, that it ought to be abandoned, and that the colored man should
be raised to the enjoyment of equal civil and religious privileges
with the whites. But after he had laid down, generally speaking
correctly, the views of the abolitionists, he proceeded to put the
most _unfair_ interpretation upon those views, and strangely contended
that they were directly aiming to accomplish the amalgamation of the
races in the fullest sense of that word. Once again, I _deny_ this.
Once again I appeal to all that the abolitionists have ever written or
spoken: to their published, official, solemn, authoritative
disclaimers; and I say on my behalf and on theirs, that with the
intermixture of "the races," as they are called, (a phrase I do not
like,) the abolitionists have nothing to do. What they have ever
contended for is this, that the colored man should now be delivered
from the condition of a beast; that he should cease to be regarded as
the property of his fellow man; and that according to the laws of the
state regulating the qualifications of citizens, he should be admitted
to a participation of the privileges that are enjoyed by other classes
of the community. We have never asked for more. We have left the
doctrine of amalgamation to be settled by our opponents. The slave
holders are the amalgamationists whose licentiousness has gone far to
put an end to the existence of a black race in the South, and who are
still carrying on, to use their own expression, "a bleaching system,"
whitening the population of the South, so that you may now discover
all shades of colored persons; from those who are so fair that they
are scarcely distinguishable from the whites, to the pure black of the
unmixed negro. But my opponent defeated himself. While attempting to
expose the folly and wickedness of amalgamation, he at the same time
contended that the thing was physically impossible; that even a
partial amalgamation could only be brought about by polygamy or
prostitution, but that general amalgamation was hopeless, because
physically impossible. If the thing be utterly beyond the reach of the
abolitionists, why dread it as an evil? Why not let the abolitionists
pursue their foolish and impracticable schemes? Why so much wrath
against them for aiming at that which nature has rendered
unattainable. I leave Mr. Breckinridge to find his way out of this
difficulty in the best manner he is able.
Again, we are told, that in attempting to bring about amalgamation,
and in preventing Colonization, we are interfering with the _purposes_
of God; fighting against His ordinances, and exposing Africa to the
horrors of extermination, should the descendants of Shem or Japhet
colonize her shores, and not the black man who has sprung from her
tribes. I confess I am somewhat surprised, when told by a Presbyterian
clergyman of Calvinistic sentiments, that I am to regulate my conduct
towards my fellow-men by the _purposes_ of God, rather than by the
_law_ of God. This is surely a new doctrine! What, I ask, have I to do
with the decrees of the Almighty? Has he not given me a law by which
to walk? Has he not told me to love my neighbor as myself? to "honor
all men?" Am I not told that God hath made of _one_ blood all nations
of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth? Where is the
prohibition to marry with Shem or Ham. I know of no directions in the
Old Testament respecting marriages, save such as were founded on
religious differences, and I have yet to learn that there are any in
the New Testament. That blessed Book declares, that in Christ Jesus
there is neither Jew nor Greek, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but all are _one_. The only
injunction I am aware of is this, "be not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers."
Mr. Breckinridge made a considerable parade of his knowledge of
Universal History, and pretended to build his theory upon the most
correct historical data. While upon this subject of _amalgamation_ and
_extermination_, I will take the liberty of submitting one or two
inquiries to Mr. Breckinridge.
Is there any law in America forbidding ministers to celebrate
marriages between Japhethite American Christians and Jewesses, (by
birth, even if Christians by faith,) and Jews, (even if Christians.)
to marry Japhethite, American females? If there be not, then, why may
Shem and Japhet intermarry, but Ham with neither? Again: If there be
no such law, then the doctrine about Noah's three sons, is not a
principle on which the American people act, but Mr. B.'s individual
dogma, got up to defend a line of conduct really proceeding without
reference to any such principle. If it be said that Jewish and
Japhethite Americans are very nearly, if not altogether, of the same
color; and that there are no political evils to be dreaded from the
intermixture of Jews with Japhethites; I reply, that, admitting the
truth of both these representations, is not the sin of mixing Noah's
sons, and counter-working the designs of God, the same in the case of
Shem and Japhet as it would be in the case of Japhet or Shem with the
tribes of Ham? Again,