The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1845-01-11
TIE QUESTION or SLAVERY.

Inc NoiuUVa poutu SaioiuloH WIG roi-
lowing letter from Gov. Hammond, in answer TO a
memorial from the Free Church Of Glasgow, Scot
land for the pardon Of John l.. Brown, Of Fairfield
south Carolina, who was convicted of aiding in the
escape Of a slave, and sentenced TO be hung;
EXECUTIVE DrrAKrMnsr,
South Carolina, June ~, 1874
s,R The last post brought me your oommunioa.
ton accompanying the memorial Of The Presbytery
Of the Free Church OF Glasgow, ia behalf of John
L. Brown, convicted an this State OF aiding slave
10 escaping from her master, and sentenced to be
hung in April last IL will DC gratifying 10 YOU, see
us The interest you have taken the matter to learn
that have pardoned brown. In consequences OF rep
reservations made 10 me ia December last by Judge
O'Nell, speaking for himself aud The Judges Of the
court oil appeals, ! eomGuted his punial.neut 10 thf
y.nlne l4sbes. Facts not known TO the jury nor TO
The Judges, we're afterwards brought TO my know
ledge which sst,afied me that Brown had no criminal
design 10 what he did; aud Ia the month of March
transmitted 10 him full pardon. | was not at all
aware al that time OF the great interest taken abroad
10 behalf OF one whose case had never heard men
toned here, except on the occasion referred 10 and
was ssIonishsd ~ mud myself oyerw helmed soon
alter with yoluminous petitions for has pardon from
the slasehoiding States OF this Union aud TO per.
eene that has sentence was commented on not only
IN tie English newspapers, bat In the English House
Of Lords. The latest, aud trust the last eomnu-
nlcblob W uie VI thia your mCuOflal.
The interference Of foreigners, any persons be-
yond our boundaries, m the execution Of The munci.
pal laws OF sovereign Slate, even IL IN respectful
terms, rs certainly violation of all propriely and
courtesy and If carr,ed To any extent must become
wholly lntoleraule. pass that by, however. The
law under which Brown was convicted, was enacted
during our colonial existence and is en- hatieally
British Law. ms also good law i pafdoaed him
not because disapproyed the law, but because did
not think he violated IT, ltsouId be the most absurd
thing the world TO recognise by law system of do
msstc slavery, and yet allow every one to free not
merely his own slaves, but those Of his neighbor
whenever instigated 10 do by bis own notions Of
proprlety, his neiest, his caprice. What sort Of
security would we have for property held on such
terms as thesei You cannot but perceive, that To
permit othes TO take slaves from at pleasure
with lmpunty wou d amount 10 q total abolition of
slavery. There would be 40 real didrrenc between
this aud allowing tbs slaves to 20 free themse YES
Your Presbytery, and all the petitioners for Brown
and sgitstors of his case must have seen the matter
in this light; and At Is aitribung To Us but anal
share Of common sense TO suppose that We would not
take the same view Of ii ourselves . .. ..
Whether death should be inflicted for such an Of
fence is another question. We have m,dihed In
great degree the sangunary code of law left us by
our British ancestors but we have not gone the
length which some philosophers, both here and IN
your country would have all governments to go--of
abosbing the punishment OF death.
Nor do believe the success your government has
met with IN endeayoring TO diminish crime by abo-
ishng punishment in SO many cases, will encourage
tuem TO press the matter much farther at this time
Considering the value OF the sayethe facility of Sc
ducing him from his owner-the evil influence which
frequent seduction might exercise institution
the destruction OF which must speedily aud inevlta-
bly, strike IRON the roll of civilized States nearly the
whole slayehodlog section Of this country as It has
already done ST. Domingo and Jamaica and the
enthusiastic and reckless enemies of this institution
which Va ire surrounded In tha
II any offence affecting property merits death, this Is
one. ....r.... .
Your memorial, like all that have been sent to me,
denounces slavery m the seyerest terms; ravers-
ing every law Of nature, and violating the most sa-
cred domestic relations, and the primary rights of
man" You aud your Presbytery are Christians.
You profess TO believe, and doubt do believe that
the laws laid down in the Old and New Testament for
the government Of man. in his moral, social, and po-
litical relations, all the direct revelations of
God himself Dods II never occur to you, that in
anathematzng slavery, you deny this divine sanction
Of those laws and repudate both Christ and Moses
or charge God with downright crime, in regulating
aud perpetuating slavery in the Old Testament, and
the most criminal neglect in only not abolishng,
but not even reprehending 1t, in the New?
IL these Testaments came from God, it is impossi-
BILE that slavery traverse the laws Of nature or
violate the primary rights of man. What those law S
and rights really are, mankind have not agreed
But they clear To God and it is blasphemous for
any Oh 10 SET up tner notions oil them
in opposition TO HIS immediate and acknowledged re-
violation.
Nor does system of slavery outrage the most
sacred domestic relations. Husbands and wives. pa
rents and children, among our slaves, are seldom
separated except from necessity crime. The
same reasons induce much more frequent separations
among the white population in this, and, | imagine,
IN almost every other country -|
But make bold to say that the Preshytery of the
free church of {, nd ne nj he
lists in every part OF the world in denouncsng do
nestle slavery, denounce a hing of which they know
absolutely nothing-lIay, which does not even exist
You weep over the horrors Of the middle passage
which have ceased, so far concerned and
over pictures of chains and lashes here which have
no existence but in the imagination. Our sympa-
thies are almost equally excited by the pub
lshed by your committees Of Parliament-and there
fore true and which have been verified by the per-
sonal observation of many of of the squalid mis-
cry loathsome disease and actual starvation of null
ttudes of the unhappy aborers, not of Ireland only
but of England-nay, of Glasgow itself Yet we
never presume to interfere with your social or NUM-
pal .regulatlons-younag wealth and coDgre-
gated msery--nor the crimes attendant them, nor
your laws for their suppression. And when we see,
by your official returns that the best classes of
English agricultural laborers can obtain for their
support but pounds Of bread and four ounces of
meat per week, and when sick out Of employment
must either starve or subsist charity, cannot
Jul iooA WIN Satisfaction 10 tbe connltton OF our
slave laborers, who usually receive as weekly al
owance, fifteen pounds of bread and three pounds of
bacon--have their children fed without stint, and
properly attended to--are well clothed, and have
comfortable dwellings, where, with their gardens and
poultry yards, they can, if the least Industrious
than real for IN mseves the vain hope of the great
French King, that he might see every peasant in
France have his fowl upon his table on the Sabbath
who from the proceeds of their own crops, purchase
even luxures and iineiy; who labour scarcely more
than nine hours day, on the average Of the year
and who in sickness, declining years. in infancy and
decreptudc, are watched over with tenderness
scarcely short of parental. When we contemplate
the known condition OF our operatives of whom that
Of your agricultural aborers is perhaps the least
" reiched only &C aC o..r