The Arkansas banner., 1845-08-27
COY. nAuNoND.s LETTERS
ON SOUTHERN SLAVERY, ADDRESSED TO
 THOMAS CLARkSON,
TIE EN0LIsH AB0LITI0alsTs.
NJ MBER

i t'lh'Hfft' tO "UtttSt tA----A It5EftpitfC hi.Hk
 -Slacefg iA the .45Strac,--in iig Moral
 and Religious ,4spect-m us Poltticat
 iaGucacc, as q6cctiag Public order, end
 the sQtciy aad Yoleer of ttc Stie
 SILVER BLUFF, (S. e. JAN, 28, 1845.
 5IR-l received a short time ago, letter from the Rev Hilloughby NJ. Dickenson, dated at your residence, "PlayforJ Hall, near i Ipswich, 25th Nov, I844, , in which was ell- closed copy ol your circular letter address cd to prof ssing chfistieas i aar northern States having uo concern wish slaYerv, and To others. presume that Alf. Diekinsan's letter was written with your knowledge aud the document enclosed with your consent and appreciation. therefore feel that there Is no lmpfoPGety in my addressing my reply directed 10 yourself, especially as there Is nothing i'll Mir. Dickinson.s communication requiring serious notice. Having abundant leisure, Il will be a recreation to me to devote a portion oi Il to all examination aud free 1 discussion ot the question of slavery as il ex- lsts in our southern States, and since you have thrown down the gauntlet to me, do not hesitate to take il up
 Familiar as you have been with the dis casslons of this subject in all its aspects, and under all the settlements 1t has occasioned Tor sixty years past, may not be able to 1 present much that will be new to you Nor ought l to indulge the hope of materially af- ieetlng the opinions you have so long cher ished, and so zealouslv promulgated SuH time and experience haze developed facts. constantly furnishing fresh tests to opinions formed sixty years since, and continually l placing this great question ia point of view. which could scarcely occur to the most con- summate intellect even d quarter of century ago; and which may not have occurred vel to those whose previous convictions, pfeu- diees and habits of thought have thorough ly and permanently biased them 10 one fixed Way of looking at the matter While there are Peeuliafities in tbe operation q every social system, and special Ioeal as well as moral causes materially affecting t which no one. l placed at the distance You are from Us can fully comprehend or properly appreciate Besides, Ii may be possibly, a novelty to you to encounter one who conscientously y belie- yes the domestic slavery of these States lo be not only an memorable necessity lorthe pre- sent, but moral and human institution, pro- ductive of the greatest political and social advantages, and who Is disposed as am, 10 defend it on these grounds
 ] I do not propose, however, to defend the African slave trade. That s no longer d question. Doubtless great evils arise from it as il has been, and Is now conducted; unne- eessafy Wars and cruel kidnapping in Africa; the most shocking barbarities in the middle passage: and perhaps a less humane system of slavery in countries continually supplied with fresh laborefs at a cheap rate. The evils of it, however, il may be fairly presumed, are greatly exaggerated, And fl might judge ol the truth oi transactions stated as occurring h this trade, by that of those reported as transPirlng among Us, 1 should not hesitate ] to say that large proportion of the stories in circulation are unlounded, and most of the remainder highly colorod.
 On the passage of the act of parliament prohibiting this trade to British subjects rests what you esteem the glory of your life It required twenty years Of arduous agitation. and the intervening extraordinary political events, to convince your countrymen, and among the rest, your pious king, of the eX- ! to say, that no individual rendered. more es- sendal service to the cause than YOU did In reIleciing oil the subject, you must oflen ask yourself, what after all las been accom- pllshed how much human suffering has been aVerted; how many human beings have been rescued from transatlantic slavery; And on the answers you can give these questions, must m great measure, ], pfesume' depend the happiness of your lie. h framing them, how frequently must you be reminded of the remark of Mr. Grosvenor, in one of the early debates upon the subject, which believe you have yourself recorded, '.that he had twenty objections 10 the abolition of the slave trade: the first was, that 1t was impos- sible-the rest he need not give" Can you say to yourself, or to the world, that this first objection of Mr Grosvenor has been yet conluted: l. was estimated al the com mencement of your agitation in l7S7, that forty-Gve thousand Africans were annnaly transported to America and the West Indies. And the mortality ol the Middle Passage. computed by some at ,, is now admitted not to have exceeded s per cent. Notwlihsand- ing your act of parliament, the previous aho- Iuon by the United S@tes, and that ali the powers in the world have subsequently, pro hibited this tade-some of the greatest of them declaring it piracy, and covering the African seas wlth armed vessels 10 prevent ii, Sir Thomas Fowle Buxton, a coadJator of yours, declared in 1840, that the number of Africans now annually sold into slavery be- yond the sea, amounts, al the very least, to one hundred and fifty thousand souls; while the mortality of the Middle Passage was in- creased, in consequence of the measures ta- ken to suppress the trade, to 9 or 30 per cent And of the one hundred and fifty thousand slaves who have been captured and liberated by British men of war since the passage of your act, Judge Jay, an American aboitionist, asserts that one hundred thou sand, or two-thirds, have perishcd between their capture and liberation. Does 1t not re- ally seem that Mir. Grosfenor was prophets That nearly alhthe @impossibiiitiesn of l7S7 have vanished, and become as familiar facts as our household customs, under the magic influence of steam. cottoaand universal peace, vel this wonderful prophecy still stands; de- lying time and the energy and genius ofman- kind. Thousands of valuable lives and fifty