The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-18 00:00:00

The Land Question.

The following letter has been addressed to the
Editor of the Anglo-American 7 imes :
SlRi—When a great and general good is con-
ferred upon a people it is attended, in some cases,
with a partial evil. The introduction of steam
power to factories threw many operatives out of
employ; and the railway system made sad work
with the profits of stage-coach proprietors. It is
not surprising, therefore, that the boon of freedom
to millions of slaves should also be attended with
some trials and losses. When the Jews were eman-
cipated there was suffering among the Egyptians
from the plagues, from the loss of their firstborn,
and from the loss of their king and army in the Red
Sea, and probably estates sold at a lower figure
than in the "good old times" when the Jews
worked for nothing, and found straw for the bricks
which they were required to make.
In the Southern States of America the value of
men, women, and children, even is no longer quoted
in the price lists of marketable commodities. Four
millions of people have been set free from the hor-
rors of slavery ; more protection is afforded to the
wife and daughters of the coloured man, although
to-day, with the single exception of the State of
North Carolina, no coloured man is allowed to be a
witness against a white person, however great may
be the outrages he may see inflicted on his dearest
relations. Notwithstanding the exclusion of
coloured children from the schools of the South,
mental culture among them was never before so
highly valued, or so eagerly sought as now. The
coloured man has a future, and caste is gradually
disappearing.

To all this, however, according to the correspon-
dent of the London Times, there is a sad drawback,
for some of the estates in the far South are actually
going down in value. To use this as an argument
against liberty it must be shown that the price of
land is falling in the free States—a subject the cor-
respondent deems it best carefully to avoid.
Crime is always costly ; and it would be strange
if, after such a rebellion, and in the present transi-
tion state of Southern society, land should rise in
value. In the first place, the whole capital at the
South was destroyed with the destruction of the
Confederate Government. Confederate paper-
money, which, previous to the surrender of General
Lee, had some value, was after the surrender of no
more value than waste paper. In the next place,
Northern capitalists were willing to lend to the
South on good security, provided they were satisfied
that peace, order, and industry would prevail. The
ex-slaveholders had now two courses before them,
one of which would attract capital to the South, the
other would repel it. If they encouraged a spirit
of loyalty to the Federal Government, promoted
education, did justice to the coloured man, and con-
formed to the new order of things, capital would
flow to the South. If, on the other hand, they re-
sisted the policy of the Federal Government, ad-
hered as closely as possible to the old order of things,
oppressed the coloured man, and sanctioned secret
organisations, regulators, and lynch-law committees,
they would alarm capitalists and cut off their only
sources of supply. Unhappily they chose the latter
course ; as a consequence, estates are worth but
little compared with their value in the palmy days
of slavery, as shown by the Times' correspondent.
One of the most gratifying changes in America,
and one which has not been noticed 'by the corres-
pondent of the Times, is the course of the religious
bodies with reference to the coloured people.

Six years ago the number of slaves held by mem-
bers of the different churches was 600,000, now not
one slave is held by them. Thirty years ago the
slave-holding ministers in the Methodist Episcopal
Conference threatened to rend the body asunder,
unless a rule was adopted requiring the ministers to
be silent on slavery ; a rule to this effect was made,
thus a clasp was placed upon the lips of 3,000
Northern ministers, a,nd the curse of the Almighty
was on the clasp. That rule is now practically a dead
letter, and anti-slavery Northern Methodists are not
only strengthening the anti-slavery public opinion
in the North, but are doing a good work in the
South in connection with the Southern members of
their church, and are affording to the coloured
people the protection of religious sympathy. Thirty
years ago no anti-slavery Baptist minister was
allowed to hold office in the National Baptist Mis-
sionary Society ; but the seeds which anti-slavery
Baptists have been sowing for more than twenty
years have sprung up, and are bearing ample fruit-
age. A good work is going on, North and South.
The same remarks apply to several other religious
bodies. Thirty years ago the American Bible
Society refused to give Bibles to slaves, or to defend
their right to receive them ; now it makes grants of
Bibles to the freedmen. Thirty years ago the Sun-
day School Union, at the bidding of the slave-
holders, suppressed its only volume, which censured
slavery, and that occupied less than one page.
That bond is 3evered, and it is more free to

show its humanity. Thirty years ago the
American Tract Society, employing seven steam-
presses, refused to print a page against slavery,
but the trammel is suapt asunder which bound it,
and it now can manifest Gospel benevolence. For-
merly the religious bodies of the North received
character from their slaveholding Southern connec-
tions ; now the religious bodies at the South are
receiving character from their anti-slavery Northern
connections. The public opinion thus being created
will be rapidly reflected in the laws of the land ; for
in no country is public sentiment so soon crystalised
into law as in America.

The views of Theodore Parker on this subject are
important, the more so because of his antagonism
to Evangelical sentiments. Referring to the three
social forces of America—political, commercial, and
religious —he observes that, in the long run, the
religious has always proved more powerful than the
political and commercial forces. The anti-slavery feel-
ing now prevailing in the Northern churches secures
an anti-slavery character and policy for the nation.
This is evident from the numbers, intelligence, and
wealth of the members ; from their political powers,
almost every man having a vote ; from the colleges,
schools, religious newspapers, and benevolent orga-
nisations, and agents under their control, and from
the truth proclaimed from thousands of pulpits
every Sabbath-day. " All things that ye would
that men should do unto you, do ye even so to
them." Even in Richmond, 'Virginia, it is becoming
safe to preach the Gospel, though ministers for doing
so have had to fly for their lives ; but thus
Christianity is securing for America an anti-slavery
future. The lowering of the value of some of the
estates is a temporary evil ; the triumph of Christian
liberty is a lasting blessing.—Yours very truly,

Bristol, Feb. 12,1867. EDWARD MATIIEWS.

The Curse upon Canaan.

Apologists for slavery are fond of referring
to Noah's curse upon the posterity of Ham, as an
evidence of the Divine purpose to bring the
coloured race into bondage. It has often been
shown that the blacks were not descended from
Ham, therefore could not have inherited the curse.
But still the old -argument is used even by men
who know its worthlessness. Mr. Crummell, an
educated coloured man and a graduate of Harvard,
in an able essay shows that the descendants of
Ham were Asiatics and not Africans, and the
curse was fulfilled in the conquest of Canaan by
the Israelites. He says :

The evidence, so far as Scripture is concerned,
is given us in Genesis 10, 19 :—" And the border
of the Canaanitcs was Sidon, as thou comest from
Gerar, unto Gaza : as thou goest unto Sodom and
Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto
Lasha." The locality here designated is evidently
the land of Palestine, and in Asia ; and in the
Pentateuch this region is frequently called the land
of Canaan.
A reference to the names of the descendants
of Canaan will tend to place this still more dis-
tinctly before us. In Gen. 10, 15-17, we find
the following statement :—" And Canaan begat
Sidon, his first-born, and Heth, and the Jebusite,
and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, and the Hivite,
and the Arkite," &c. &c. These names most surely
are not African, nor do they indicate African loca-
lities. We recognise in Sidon the name of that
city, celebrated in history for its commerce and
luxury, which stood on the Mediterranean, at the
north of Palestine. The Hittites were the descendants
of Heth, and from nearly the same quarter. The
Jebusites were the descendants of Jebus, and their
locality was the spot on which Jerusalem was built.
And the Amorites, Girgasites, &c., are frequently
mentioned in the Old Testament as inhabitants of
the land of Canaan.

The secular historical evidence is brief, but clear,
weighty, and decisive; it is the evidence of Josephus,
who says : " Canaan, the fourth son of Ham, in-
habited the country now called Judea, and called it
from his own name Canaan."
Supposing that his position may be controverted
by some, on the ground that Canaanitish colonies,
of which Carthage was one, were founded on the
North African coast, Mr. Crummell says on this
point, that it is quite evident that the negro race,
which mostly peoples this vast continent, could not
have proceeded from them.
1. Because the establishment of Carthage, the
great Phoenician (Canaanitish) colony, was at a
late period in the history of the world ; but the
permanent division of races had been formed cen-
turies anterior to this event; and the negro race, as
a race, had long before sprang into existence.
2. If this were not the case, the probability is that
the great desert would have prevented their being
mingled with the mass of the aborigines who live
south of the desert ; and it is almost certain that
the interior of Africa was reached by the way of
Egypt.
3. History informs us that Carthage, a colony,
grew up, by itself, in one locality ; flourished for a
space, and then sunk to decay ; while it does not in-
form us that Carthage was. the mother of nations,
the founder of a race.

Moreover, the fact should not be forgotten that
the blood of the Canaanites was more mingled with
that of the Europeans than with Africans, formed
more colonies in Europe than in Africa ; and they
have left behind more numerous marks and monu-
ments of their power in Europe than in Africa.
Indeed, almost every vestige of their former might
has been obliterated.