The Arkansas banner., 1845-09-03


 NUMBER V
 (CoacfHsi0a)
 SILVER BLUFF, 5. C. MARcH 21, l7l5.
 siR-ln my letter to you of the 2SIh January which l trust you have received ere this -l mentioned that. l had lost your letter soon after t had come 10 hand. II was, | am glad to say, only mslaid, and has within d few days been recovered. A second peru sal oi IL induces me 10 resume my pen. tln- willing to trust my reeelectous from a sin- gle reading, did not in my last eommuniea- ton attempt to follow the course ef your ar- gument, and meet directly the points made aud the terms used. 1 thought 1t better to take general view of the subject which could not tall to traverse your most material char ges. am well aware, however. that, for fear ot being tedious, omitted many inter- estlng topics altogether, and abstained from a complete discussion of some of those intre- dueed l do not propose now to exhaust the subject; which il would require volumes to do; but without waiting lo learn-which may never do--your opinion of what have already said, l sit down 10 supply some of the deficiencies of my letter of January, and. with your circular before me, To reply to such parts of Ii as have not been fully answered.
 IL Is, l perceive, addressed among others to "such as have never visited the southern States" ol thls eoniedefaeY, and pfolesses to enlightcn their ignorance ol the actual ''con- dition of the poor slaves in their own coun- try cannot help thinking you would have displayed prudence in confuiug the circua- ton of your letter altogether to such persons. You might have induIged with mpunity in giving, as you have done, picture of slavery drawn from your own excited imagination, or from those impure fountains, the Marti- neaus, Mafryatts, Tfollopes and nickenses, who have proitcd by catering, at our ex- pense, to the jealous sensiblities and debau- ehed tastes ot your comhvmen. Admitting that you arc familiar with the history of sla- vtry and the past discussions oi f, as l did. ] HOW think rather broadly, h my former letter, what can you know of the true cen- dtion of poor slave9 here I am not aware that you have ever visited this country, or even the West Indies. Can you suppose that because you have devoted your life to the investigation ol the subiect-co commencing il under the influence of an enthusiasm so me lancholY at first and so volcanic afterwards as to be nothing short of halucination-pur- suing it as men of one idea do everything. with the purpose of establishing your own view of it--galhering your information from discharged seamen, disappointed spectators, iaetious politicians, visionary reiormers and scnTllous tourists-opening your ears to every species of complaint, exaggeration and lalsehood that interested ingenuity could in- vent, and never for moment questioning the truth of anything that could make for your causc-can you suppose that all this has qualified you, living the while in England, To form or approximate towards the formation ol d correct opinion of the condition of sla- yes among Us? ] know the power of self deusion | have not the least doubt that you think yourself the very best informed man alive on this subject and that many think so likewise. So far as lacts go, even after de- dacting from your Iista great deal that is not lact will not deny that probably your col- lection Is the most extensive in cXistcnce- But as to the truth ill regard to slavery, there Is not an adult in this region but knows more of it than you do. Truth and fact are, YOU
  HiHely-nine facts may constitute lalshood: the hundredth, added or alone, gives the truth. With all your knowledge of facts. I undertake to say that you are entirely and grossly ignorant of the real condition of our slaves. And from all that can see, you are equally ignorant of the essential principles of human association revealed in history, both sacred and prolane, on which slavery rests, and which will perpelnate Il for ever in some form or other. However you may declam against It; however powerful you may array atrocious incidents; whatever appeals you may make to the heated imaginalions and tender sensibilites of mankind, believe me, your total blindness to the whole truth. which alone constitutes the truth, incapaci- tates you from ever making an impression on the sober reason and sound common sense of the world. You may seduce thousauds- you can convince no one. Whenever aud wherever you or the advocates of your cause can arouse the passions of the weak-minded and the ignorant, and, bringing to bear with them the interests of the vicious and unprla- cipied, oyerwhelm common sense and reason -as God sometimes permits to be done- you may triumph. Such triumph we have witnessed in Great Britain But l trust it is far distant here: nor can 1t from its nature be extensive or enduring. Other classes of re- formers, animated by the same spirit as the abolitonists, attack the institution of mar riage, and even the established relations of parent and child. And they collect instan- ces of barbarous cruelty and shocking degra- dation which rival, if they do not throw in- to the shade, your slavery statistics But the rights of marriage and parental authority rest upon truths as obvious as they are un- changeable- home to every human being-self-impressed forever on the indivi- dual mind, and cannot be shaken until the whole man Is corrupted, nor subyerted until civilized society becomes putrid mass Do mestic slavery is not so universally under stood, nor can it make such direct appeal 10 individuals or society beyond its pale.-I Here, and prejudice passionhaveroom tosport at the expense of others. They may be ex- clled and urged to dangesons action, remote from the victims they mark out They may, as tbeV have done effect 0reat t4issb faf b,i4