The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1848-05-27

l
Licking, a ssregro fellow, wife, and child The
slaves objected. Both the negro and LIS wffe
protested against being separated, or sent South.
But the sale wss made; they were brought TO
Co,ington, ana. for ssfe-keeping, lodged IN jail,
until they could be shipped for louisiana
While in jsil, the negro man resolved, inst,
that he wosid NOT go South His wife sald'
.iafher than do that, and Be separated, wish
YOU to cut my throst.'' Both then resoivedupon
.efdsstraction. But the ehildl Could they
consent TO imbne Their hands IN its bloodf
"Aye,'' was the mother's response--''rsiher
than il should go South, and be separated from
US, let il be DONE Deliberately did that moth
e,do the deed-deibelately oiIer her throat to be
cut by her husband, who male the fatal cash,
and as deliberately did he attelnpito take hisown
| life
They are all dead These three slaves, father,
wife, and child, nameless, unknown, lac under
the cold earth, and the event is with Cod We
cannot Justify any human bang in taking his
OWL life, or the lives Of others The bareide Il
a father cody killing his child, wife, and then
himself, shocks us. Yet on hearing Of this ira
gic scene at Coyington, and the cause of it, we
| could not but feel and say, "ihere was wild
heroism in the act, which robs it Of IFS horror. |"
| II such deed had occurred in Did Rome, and in
the best days of Roman manhood, the doers Of II
would have been heralded foah, and handed
down to us, in song, STORY, and histonc descrip-
ion, as among their greatest, leftiest characters.
Christianity teaches US other views, and high
| or duty. But even Christianity while condemn
| ing the act bids us sorrow over, and sympathize
with, the dead, who for loveof home, who rather
than be torn from each other, died thus by their
own hands.
How stiuingly does this fatal act appeal to
avery man, woman, and child in Kentucky To
protest against the separation Of families.
There be those who say, ''slases care very lit
tie about such separation" We know better,
all Of US. We know that their feelings are kind,
their attachments strong, their love of kindred
and home abiding. True, these feelings and at.
tachments. and this love, are weakened, some
times deadened, because manages are NOT is-
gaifEed, and because they dare net fix them. But
despite OF this, there is not a plantation, not
neighborhood, not a county, in which slaves do
not show the highest, hottest affection, when
torn from their families, or driven away from the
old homestead. Have you, reader. attended an
administrators sale, when old settled families,
wereput up for sale, and not heard the wall, and
shrek of women, or witnessed the gnef depressing
and crushing stout menl Have you never been
at the court house, when under legal action, the
father was about TO be borne away forever from
wife and children, and seer. the unutterable an
guish which overwhelmed theml They do love
each other. They love kind masters. And no
Southern man at all convesant with the negTo's
nature, or familiar with his habits, win pre-
tend to deny the fact. What, then, can We say
in defence Of law which allows family ties TO
be broken at any momentf What plea put in,
what justification offer, for a code which ami
hilates at one blow the marriage rite, and all the
sscredness Of homei What say, when death is
deliberately sought by slave husband, and slave
wife, rather than submit to separation, or endure
the pangs which such separation would infcti
Now the reason Of the case demands Of us,
as men and christians, the instant cessation Of
any and all such barbarity.
The strength Of Kentucky lies in her char
4 aefer. What she eovets-what she prizes
what hang around her her iewels--sre
her generosity, disinterestedness, magnanmity,
greatness Of soul. Ii is snsral glory which
makes her-which makes every State, every
nation-and Whatever touches OF taints that,
should be repslled with stern and indignant re-
buke. Now let this COvington story be re-
peaied in Europe. Let orators in France rise
up, aud tell their people Of the terrible event
which occurred in our sister city. and the cause
Of il. Let poets sing about il In stirring verse,
wherever poetry has voice, or there are ears to
hear, and hearts to appreciate IL. And what a
storm Of wonder and indignation would be rous.
ed against fis! How would our very name be
associated with tyranny, barbarous system,
cruelty beyond that endured at Constantinople,
and discarded now at Morocco. Yet not a hu-
name stakeholder treads our soil. not generous
citizen who does not condemn this I'M Justice, who
would not, II he could, expunge from the statute
book all such barbarous laws, and say "let there
be no separation Of families, let all home ties be
sacred. let no man violate In situations created
by the living God.'' Let us do this in self-de-
fence. In answer TO the voice Of the civilized
world, now jubilsnt with the shout Of liberty,
and exulting over rotten dynasiies, crumblng
amid their frauds, corruptions, and expressions;
in answer to the good and great men who have
put aside the bayonet, and silenced the cannon,
by the sublime majesty Of moral power--let us
resolve that no such wrong shall be tolerated,
no such barbarous enactment hereafter disfgure
our statute book.
Especially is the Church invoked, through
this fearful tragedy, to make new, more reso-
lutte, more united effort against the barbarities of
our slave code.
Here was purchase and sale. The master
up the Licking River, parted with his slaves, in
forming them that their new buyer would take
them South. Suppose this purchaser slave
dealer, and the seller member of the Church
Could the latter be reached BY any act Of disci-
pline' Is there any rule or law by which, in
such case the example and power Of the Church
could be exercised in behalf Of the right? We
fear not. We fear no one step in this fearful
tragedy could be brought before the Church.
His right 10 sell under the lao is clear. Yet
who would not give heed to the prayer and
protests OF the slave husband and wife7 Anolh-
err master could have bean found in the neigh
borhood. For few dollars less than was recei-
we'd, other purchasers would have offered.