The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1847-07-24

| ton of the land, and Of the world. They hav,
no knowledge means Of becoming such
Christians; u ninety mine hundreths Of then
receive no instruction, not even in a Sabbath
school. In almost every part Of the South
where there is no positive law forbidding theil
being instructed, public sentiment amounts to q
prohibition equally effective.
But do you ask, " DO they not receive oral in
structiOnY' i answer, yes, Of its kind A
large part of what they get is from preach
ers Of their own color. These preachers gen.
orally, you would suppose, are Iamen,ably ig.
norant-scarcely able TO read sentence, much
less to comprehend and explain its truths, and
impress them on their hearers. The custom OF
going to hear their own preachers has inc rease,
very much within three or four years. This
arises from prevailing opinion, that their mas
tiers desire them 10 attend at the white churches
| only to prevent them from assocating tOyeth- FL
| where their masters are not present. They have,
moreover, natural preference for preachers of
their own color, us being more on an equality
/ with themselves, and more able To sympathize
with them. The amount of preaching to them
from white ministers is very small. II minis
ter should preach much to them, he iAliable to
be suspected as an aboltionist. If his Cisavow-
| al of this is so loud as TO free him from the
| charge, then the slaves do not continue to hear
| him. Many slaves are, from the nature Of the
social economy here, kept at home on the Sab
bath, 10 cook, feed stock, catch and take care Of
| horses and carriages FOR the family"
OF the influence of slavery on the intellectual
and religious culture of the white population,
the following facts are mentioned;
The agricultural system pursued at the
south causes large bodies of land TO be held by
few Proprietors, who thus thrown too far
apart to allow of those compact neighborhoods
universal in other parts Of the United States.
The population is consequently sparse; there
are few villages; and the artist, the manufac-
iurer, the mechanic, the free laborer, are 10 u
great degree excluded. The history of the
church shows that it is mainly in these indus
trious classes that the Gospel fourishes most.
From the same fact, of a scattered population
results great want of schools and instruction
of children. The children of shareholders being
| raised in what is GALES. thigh life" are educa-
ted, if at all, by private tutors, or sent to high
| schools in the cities and towns. The operatives,
being slaves, are not educated. Hence, the
Shareholder feels little no interest in sustain
ing neighborng schools. The system tending
TO monopoly of the land the other por-
ton Of the neighbcrhaud are unable to send
their children away To expensive schools, or TO
maintain. without the aid of the landholders,
schools at convenient distances-hence, their
children have 10 do with little or no education.
Accordingly il is said, that theSe are in Ken
lucky 10000 white persons, over twenty years
Of age, who are unable TO read: in Virginia
$1,000; in North Carolina, $1,000 besides the
slaves, who may be regarded a. all In this condi-
ton. 1lpe effect Of this is seen not only in the
| small number of men who enter the ministry the
comparative rarity Of authors who are natives md
residents Of the South, and in our depe ndence on
the free States for preachers and teachers but
in the fact. that "A free school systafn Ia. n.vev
tiourshed here, and consequently the children Of
the poor man are uneducated. Thus the fountai
of the CHURCH, the springs of eahy religious
knowledge and piety dried up. Resulting
from tins state of society, churches are few and
feeble. because in given district of convenient
size il is rare that there are persons Of sufficient
intelligence and means TO sustain them Efficient
~. In all this, no account is made of the eff
feet which the habit of uncontrolled sway has
on the moral state of the master himself. and of
his family, in uniting them for the subsection
of the whole soul to the authority of God.
One more deplorable fact NAV be mentioned
and that is, that this System ha- Allied rforn
among 'i'r nee states, many Of our best
ministers. They could not sustain the conf ict
between their conscences and the apparent ne
cessity that virtually sealed their lips
Another Missionary who is placed in a station
of much difficulty, cnumerates several sources
of embarrassment. Among these he finds
that,
slavery presents not a few obstacles TO the
success OF the preaching of the Gospel. In this
matter am more unfortunate than either of
my predecessors-all Of them came from slave
States, but i did not. On this account | had
much prejudice and suspicion 10 contend with
for nearly year after my arrival. You have
been Informed how near came to being honored
with leave of absence in great haste. | think.
however. | have pretty much outlived these
prejudices. OF the general influence of slavery.
You have no need that write unto you. You
are aware that many devoted ministers Of the
Gospel have left this and other slave States, be-
cause Of the 'patriarchial institution | can
| sympa,hize with such men now more fully than
before | came here"