Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1845-01-02
ExEcupvE DEPARTMENT, }
,uth Carolina, 2lst June, 1914. (

'..Su3 uSuOIul Oh
10 Presbytery of the Free Church Of Glas-
ow, in behalf Of John L. Brown, convicted
\ this State of aiding slave in escaping from
Ter master, and sentenced to be hung in April
asst. 1t will be gratifying to you, seeing the |
interest you have taken in the matter, to learn |
hat have pardoned Brown. In consequence
81 representations made to me in December
asst by Judge O'Neall, speaking for himself
md the Judges Of the Court Of Appeals, ]
,ommuted his punishment to thirty mine LASH
ss.-Facts, not known to the jury, nor to the
Judges, were afterward brought to my knowl-
edge, which satisfied me that Brown had no
criminal design in what he did and in the
month OF March transmitted to him full
parden. was not at all aware at that time
OF the great interest taken abroad in behalf of
one whose case had never heard mentioned
here, except on the occasion referred 20 and
was astonshed TO find myself overwhelmed
soon alter with voluminous petitions for his
pardon from the non-slave-holding States Soi
this Union; and TO perceive that his sentence
was commented on, not only by the Engli&h
newspapers, but in the English House Of Lords.
The latest, and trust last communication to
me on the subject, is your memorial
The interference of foreigners, or any per-
sons beyond our boundaries, in the execution
of the municipal laws Of Sovereign State,
even if in respectful terms is certainly a viola
ton Of all propriety and courtesy aud if car
ried to any extent, must become wholly intol-
cradle. pass that by however. The law
under which Brown was convicted, was en-
acted during our Colonial existence, and is
emphatically British law II is also good
law. l pardoned him, not because dIsap-
proved the law, but because did not think
ne violated it. II would be the most absurd
thing IN the world 10 recognize by law sys-
tenn OF domestic slavery, and yet allow every
one to free, not only his own slaves, but those
of his neghbor, whenever insigated to do so
by his own notions, Of propriety, his interest,
or his caprisc. What sort of security would
we have for property held on such terms as
these You cannot but perceive, that TO per-
nit others 10 take our slaves from us at plea
sure with IMMUNITY, would amount to total
abolition OF slavery. There would be no real
difference between this, and allowing the
slaves to go free themselves. Your Presby-
terry, and all the petitioners for Brown, and
agitators of his case, must have seen the mat
ter IN this light; and it is attributing to us but
small share OF common sense TO suppose
that we would not take the same view of il
ourselves.
Whether death should be inflicted for such
an offence Is another question. We have
modified in great degree the sanguinary code
OF law left us by our British ancestors but
we have not gone the length to which some
philosophers, both here and in your country,
would have all Governments to go--of abol-
ishing the punishment of DEATH
Nor do believe the success your Gov
eminent has met with in endeavoring to d.
mInish crime by abolishing this punishment
IN so many cases, will encourage them to press
the matter much farther at this time. Con-
sidering the value Of the slave; the facility
OF seducing him from his owner; the evil in
fuence which frequent seduction might exer-
else on an institution, the destruction Of which
must speedily and inevitably strike from the
roll OF civilized states nearly the whole slave
holding section of this country, as it has al
ready done St. Domingo and Jamaica; and
The enthusiastic and reckless enemies of this
with which we are surrounded, it
seems to me that if any offence affecting prop
erty merits death, this is one.
Your memorial, like all that have been sent
to me, denounces slavery in the severest
terms ; as "traversing every Law Of Nature,
aud violating the most sacred domestic rea-
,ions, and the primary Rights of Man.n You
and your Presbytery are Chrstians.-Yo on
profess to believe, and no doubt do believe.
that the laws laid down in the Old and New
Testaments for the government of man, in his
moral, social and political relations, were all
the direct Revelation of God himself. Does
II never occur to you, that in matchmaking
slavery, you deny this Divine Sanction of
those Laws, and repudiate both Christ and
Moses; or charge God with downright. crime,
IN regulating and perpetuating slavery in the
Old Testament, and the most criminal neg
iect, In not only not abolishiDg, but not even
reprehending it, in the New
IL these Testaments come from God, it is
impossible that slavery can, "traverse the Laws
of Nature, or violate the primary Rights Of
Man." What those Laws and Rights really
are, mankind have not agreed. But they are
clear to God and it is blasphemous for any
Of His creatures TO set up their notions Of
them in opposition to His immediate and ac-
Revelation.
Nor does our system Of slavery outrage
the most sacred domestic relations. Hus-
bands and wives, parents and children, among
our slaves, are seldom separated, except from
necessity or crime. The same reasons in
duce much more frequent separations among
the white population in this, and, imagine,
in almost every other country.
But make bold 10 say that the Presbytery
Of the Free Church of Glasgow, and nearly all
the AboIitionsls in every part Of the world,
in denouncing our domestic slavery, denouDce
a thing Of which they know absolutely moth
jBg-Day, which does not even exist You
weep over the horrors Of the Middle Passage,
which have ceased, so far as we are concern
ed; and over pictures Of chains and lashes
here, which have no existence bu. in the ina