The Arkansas banner., 1845-02-05

your pitlcss laws for their supprcssion.- i And when we see bY your official returns. i that even the best classes of English agri- cultural Iaborcrs can obtain for their sup ! port but seven pounds of bread, and four ounces oi meat per week, aud when sick or out of employment, must either starvc or subslSt on charity. we cannot but look with satisfaction to the condition of our slave la- horers, who usually receive as weekly al- l laWance fifteen pounds of bread and three pounds of bacon-have their children fed without stint, and properly attended to-are all well clothed, and have comfortable dwell lngs, where, with their gardens and poultry wards, they can, if the least industrious, more than realize for theniselye the vain hope of the great French King, that he might see every peasant in France have his fowl upon his table oil the Sabbath:-whe, from the pro- ceeds of their own crops. purchase even l aXuries and finerv-who labor scarcely more than nine hours a day, on the average ot the year-and who, in sickness. in decli- ming wears, in infancy and and decrcpitude, are watched over with tenderness scarcely short of parental. When we contemplate | the known condition of your operatives, of whom that of your agricultural laborcrs is perhaps the least wretchcd, we arc not only not ashamed ot that of our slaves, but are always ready to challenge q comparison. and should be highly gratilied to submit to a re- eiProca Investigation, by enlightened and impartial judges,
 You are doubtless of opinion, that all these advantages in favor of the slave, fl they exist, are more than counterbaanced by his being deprived of his freedom Can you tell me what freedom is-Who possesses it, and how much of 1t Is requisite to human happiness? Is your operative, existing in the physical and moral condition which your own official returns depict--deprived too of every political right, even that of voting at l the polls, who IS not cheered by the slightest hope of ever improving his lot CT leaving his children 10 better. and who actually seeks the four walls of a prison, the hulks, trans portaton, as comparative blessing-is he tree-sulliclenlly free? Can you say that this sort of lreedom-the liberty to beg or steal--to choose between starvation and n pfison--dees or ought to make him happier than our slave. situated as have truly de- scribed him, without single care or gloomy l forethought
 But you will perhaps say, il is not in the 1 thing, but in the name, that the magic re- sides--that there IS | vast difference between being called slave and being made one,- though equally enslaYed by law, by social l forms, and by immutablc necessity. This Is an ideal and sentimental distinction which twill he dillicultto bring the African race to comprehend. But If it be true, and freedom Is name and idea, rather than reality, how many are there then entitled even 10 that name, except by courtesy; and how many are able 10 enjoy the idea ill perieetion:-- Does your operative regard 1t as a sufficient compensation for the difference between four ounces and three pounds of bacon2 If he does, he IS rare philosopher. ln your pow eriul kingdom, soclal grade is as thoroughly established and acknowledged as military rank. Your commonalty see among them selves series of ascending classes, and, r- sing above them all, many more; composed of men not whit superior to themselves i'll any of the endowments of nature, who yet in name, in idea, and in fact, they possess greater worldly privileges. To what one of all these classes does genuine freedom be- long3 To the duke, who lawns upon the prince-to the baron, who knuckles to the duke-or the commoner, who crouches to the baron5
 Doubtless you all boast of being ideally free; while the American citizen counts youl freedom slavery, and could not brook state of existence in which he daily encountered fellow mortals, acknowledged and privileged as his superlors, solely by the accident oI birth He, too, in turn. will boast of his freedom, which might be just as little to your taste. will not pursue this topic far ther. But l think you must admit, that there is not so much in name; and that ideal or imputed freedom Is a very uncertain source of happiness.
 You must also agree, that t would be a bold thing for you or any one to undertake to solve the great problem of good and evil -happiness and misery, and decide in what [ worldly condition man enjoys most, and sui fers least. Your profession calls OH you tc teach that his true happiness is seldom founG upon the stormy sea of politics, or in tho mad race Oi ambltion-in the pursuits o mammon. or the cares of hoardcd gain; that in short. the wealth and honors of this world are to be despised and stunned Will you then say. that the slave must be Yretehed be- cause he is debarred from them? or because he does not indulge in the dreams of phi
 osophy, the wranglng of sectarians, or the sou-dislurbing speculations of the seeptic: or because. having never tasted of what is called freedom, he Is ignorant of its ideal blessings, and as contented with his lot, such as it IS, as most men are with theirs:
 You and your Presbytery doubtless de- sire. as we all should, to increase the happi- ness of the human family. But since 1t IS SO difficult, if not impossible, to deemine in what earthly state man may expect to en- ljoymost of II, why can yoa not be content, to leave him in that respect where God has placed him-,o give mp the ideal and the E. doubtful. for the real-to restrict yourselves to the faithful tuliilment Of your great mis- sion of preaching 'sthe glad lidmgs of saliva tion'' 10 all classes and conditions; or at the very least, sacrrdly abstain from all endcay- nrs ln amelorata tie lot of man hv rayolu.