The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-07 00:00:00

DIL.GUTHRIE AND THE SLAVE TRADE

An American paper, the Presbyterian, which pro-
fesses to be a religious journal of the highest ortho-
doxy, has attacked Dr. Guthrie's speech delivered
lately at the meeting in Edinburgh, sympathising
with Dr. Cheever. The rev, doctor has written an
indignant rejoinder, in which he stigmatises maul
of the charges in the Presbyterian as "untrue and
contemptible." He proceeds to rebut some of the
statements which he is accused of making :
" You state that I spoke of the American eagle
as polluted with blood.' Now, that may or may not
be the case ; but I never used these words, nor said,
indeed, a word, good or bad, about your eagle. You
state also that I wished the next negro insurrection
to succeed,' though they might have to fight to thel
knees in the blood of the white man.' How can
deny that ? for in your article are not the offensive
words, fight to the knees in the blood of the white
man' set within inverted commas, the usual sign of a
quotation and the pledge of accuracy ? Alas for
the credit of inverted commas and certain religious
newspapers ! There is not a word of truth in
your statement. The wronged and down-trodden
negro may or may not be justified in doing for
his personal what your own fathers did for
their national liberty; though a man, he is black,
and notwithstanding that an old-fashioned book
called the Bible, says that God made of one blood
all the families of the earth, he may no more have
rights than the cow ho is sold with; yet I never
used the words, nor spoke of blood, either on black
men's knees or on American eagles. You say I Ws!
bloodthirsty.' A horrid charge to bring against
any minister of the Gospel. 'lf you mean, by aPPIt
ing this abusive language to me, that I delight in t e
shedding of human blood, or would have recourse to
arms rather than suffer any wrong, I deny your
charge, and appeal for my veracity to those who
know me, and know how I abhor the cruelties in-
separable from war. Perhaps you mean something
else. Perhaps you mean that I would regard the
slaves, if they had a fair prospect of success, as jus-
tified in rising to recover their freedom, and as a lag'
resource, meeting arms with arms in the battle for
liberty. If so, I plead guilty to the charge ; g_Riltlf W
I must add, as were our Wallace and your ash:
ington. Washington and his compatriots tholighb
not liberty only, but independence even worth fight"
ing for. In the days of the struggle which you yearly
commemorate ministers preached up resistance;
pulpits, as well as drums, sounded to arms. you
laud the men who did the fight, and were ready te,
fight to the knees in the blood of the white man,
merely for the right to tax themselves' and have
you the assurance to hold sip your hands in horror
at the bare idea of poor Africans, ground to the dust,
doing the samh to save themselves, their wives, their,
children, from bleeding under the brutal lash, and
being sold like cattle to the highest bidder ? Thong''
a violent termination to slavery is not one that any
reflecting and right-thinking man would wish, tho
system, as one of cruelty, of immorality, of robbell
and of murder, is accursed both of God and man. iv;
is the plague-spot of your state ; the plague-spot 01
your churches; and should its end, which God for"
bid, be one of violence, on the heads of those vibe
are not straining every nerve to brin; it to
speedy and bloodless termination, will lie 'the
guilt of all the fearful crimes that shall accOol
pany its dying struggles. When these comet
and the slaves are fighting for their rights, your
disasters may recall the fearful words of Jefferson,
What attribute of Jehovah would allow him to
take part with us ?' "