New-York daily tribune., 1843-03-30

The Athenians ere so cruel bat the number OF thef
slaves compared with that Of their freeea almost
BILE. Aheueus tells that with twenty or twen'Sone
thousand eemen the city of Percles had 100000 slaves
should be remembered too, that these slaves were men
OF the slime race and color with their masters 0reeks "e
allowed, be hold Greeks In bondage 0u1 m
without bounds OF Greece for them oarearaHs anu
Is only justice when captured IN raE tat heif
should be taken was deemed an act oil d'ercy 70 e'
them live in state OF servi,nde But may De asked wha
the philosophers of those days thought OF these things
How did they strike their inds Just they did the
minds of others Slavery looked upon as conduoh
established by Nature herself Plato IN bis BOOK on La"
gives the opinion of his coInymen and OF all Aihenia
upon this subject when he that there can De nooDs
good in the soul of slave and therefore that no wise man
should trus, him In support of the same opinion lines
of Homer qucted in which The poet says that Juplter
takes away brains of those destined TO slavery
The prevalent opinion may be earssd nom Afls'oe
The Romans entertained the belief Tho Indians had
more theory; for believing In the
OF sou they maintained that those now in state OF slavery
were thus punished for crimes of their previous state
the doctrine had been rue this explanation would nave
been both natural and us The Germans held lotions SIM
liar TO those OF the Greeks and Romans.
Such were the ideas OF lights OF the ancient
pans; and If this was the light what was the darkness :
In looking at the condition which such ideas must have In
duced the soul hrnks back in alright from the conlempa'
lion OF the multtudnous physical and moral evils "hch
must have belonged the ancient condition OF social ser'i'
tude.
such was the state of the race when the divine Auher OF
our religion came establish Kingdom which was not OF
this world He recognized the diversity existing in the
conditions OF society natural consequence OF the org-
nal fall of Man But he revived The knowledge of the rue
Master and proclaimed that in his sight all we're eqaal
In his doctrine anarchy no vloence no COERCION
He himself and his Apostles after him quietly submitted to
the Injustice OF earthly rulers, and thus, in yielding 10 op'
nression respected the principle of authority out OF which
i grew They instructed those who were In bonds To re-
main so with all patience, and declared that CLARITY love
10 God and Man, tie test OF all true disciple
ship.
so gradual as TO be impercepble: The answer s
because our Saviour left Mans will free He profered to
him the good hut left him free 10 choose the evil with
sense al the time OF the awu! responsibility ne Woaa
incur This is the key for the discrimination OF all Church
History All the good that has been effected directly 9"
ua to Christianity; while ali the evil that has followed
grows of the exercise OF WIZ ana coheiuP1
or Christ and his teachers.
The Church ha, always acted upon the principle laid
down by Christ his Apostles in respect TO Social Serv.
ude She has sough, nsi into the hearts OF men the
heavenly precept that they should love one another ana
10 the power of this upon the heart she has trusted for the
bt ration of slaves Nor has she been Disappointed To
suppose that all slaves should have been emancpaed snul-
aneousy would be absurd and would 50 appear hen It
remembered that time full nine !erths of the human
race in slavery The whSe history of the emancipa
der Traan 1900 free in single day, and by hers of
which Bishop HUGHES enumerated many,l evnces the
power of this Christian principle Slavery, through lis III
Huence had been almost abolished when the progress OF
eioration arrested by the upon OF the ha r6arians
of the Norh seemed governed by only instincts
the one TO plumber whatever they coald carry away and
The other destroy whatever they we're forced to leave be-
hind
Roman Civilization then at an end and Society esan
to present itself under new phase Social Servtude,
though Ancient Slavery bad been destroyed still, existed
and made itself the relations Of the eu a lord
and his yassss and retaner Wo then tc the weak who,
though in the right had might to fgh: his battles The
Church then aided she has done, 10 relieve them
from The assumed authority of the Popes was
not originally usurpaton bn they forced TO it by the
chiefs of those nations which applied 10 them IN hope OF
cevng that justice which they could net expect from any
other quarter 1t was anomaly which grew out Of the
times; it destined pass away as did, and 1t is now
admitled by learned of every party that the Authority
of the Church uniformly exerted on the SIDE Oh tne
weak against strong in favor oil the people against their
If we had other proof Of this the fact that
,he clergy VIZ re entrusted with power by the people would
he enough to shor that they deemed worthy OF 1t
o. is touching the charity the ZEAL the prudence
which distilled the gentle influence of the Christian Spirit
into the breasts the till their frozen hearts o the
North were melted with pity towards their sers and de-
pepden,s 1t is impossible 10 say how much OF this was
owing TO the dogmas of the Chucch bat would be well
for those rdcule the doctrine OF Purgaory to bear in
mind that many ser freed procure the release of
the soul of the departed The provisions OF the Canon
law fol bade the alienation Of Church property but one
third was reserved for the psor one-thrd for repairing
Churches and the remainder the support of the Clergy
II should be remembered oo that the only exception TO the
nrohbition of alienation for the purpose OF escung
slaves from captivity
The church also multiplied religious estivaaholdays
during the eek which released the slave from lbor and
took from the master the profits OF that labor and at the
tI,a t,nrIa apafh
h. of course diminished the value Of The slave and thus
facilitated his liberation. This too should be borne IN mind
as one of the motives humanity 10 which these festivals
owed their origin Thus slavery driven Of Europe
by the power OF Christian faith and feeling aone opera
ted slowly but with certainty of ultimate success The
action Of Clergy not generally authoritative though
on one memorable occasion 1t was thus exhibited In
ma ton of Europe slavery existed among the
population because they had never been conquered but it
had great market for the sale OF slaves brought
from abroad BY single edct OF the church passed by
council of the Clergy, this utterly and forever Fro
hibed that Council held al the city OF Waterford in
Ireland. And may hope that the people Of that
lovely bu unfortunate land will long for themselves
what they did for their foreign slaves eight hundred years
ago?
The period Of transition begaa the beginning of the
Sixteenth Century and The manifold Improvements that
had been made in The arts Of life opened vista OF infinite
progress and happiness the human But religious
differences then broke cut and large portion of The Church
was wresed from main body The charity of religion
which had accomplished so much, chilled by
acrimonious conflict o: ideas, and by battles Of which this
event The OCCASION II not the cagse. Without entering
al all upon theological discussion OF the subject, may
well be said that it is very generally believed that it
would have bsen well for society that event had
Cured.
Take England, for example. Il is not denied that in
cumua,ing wealth that country tor the last three centuries
has been without parallel in the history OF the world We
one
scenes crowned with gorgeous seats and all that crafty
the sense or fill the cup human bliss This would all be
wel-if there poor there also, if God had
beautiful euri the rich alone But without