Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-04-07
Marriage of Slaves.

mdIlldSU vi DlulCS.
In North Carolina, in tho case Of tie State
re'Sus Samuel, it was held that a contract Of
marriage in reyJi de prasscHii, though fol-
lowed by cohabitdtion, was not a leral mar
rage in that State, unless celebrated by some
person in a sacred Office, or catered into be-
fore some one in a public station and judicial
trust. Consequently the marriage OF slaves
as usually existing, consisting Of cohaLiia-
ton merely by the permission of the owners,
did not constitute the legal relation Of has
band and wife. I'd kent's Commentaries,
p. 81.
The Fall River Association, (Baptist)
went a step further. They solemnIy resell
we'd, that when slaves, married in due form
by themselves, or by other authorized cler-
gymen or magistrates, were separated by
sale and removal, such separation worked a
virtual divorce, and it was right and proper
for clergymen 10 marry either or both the
parties TO other persons, Notwithstanding that
the first husband or wife was known 10 be in
full life.
We have not met with a formal avowal Of
the doctrine from any other religions denom-
%ination, but we are assured the Practice Of the
Southern Churches generally is in confJrmi-
~ with it. And they are, moreover, able to
give very good reasons for it,-as good as
can be given for any other wrong which their
own acts make necessary.
The same branch of practical morliity
finds necessary protection under the resolution
Of the General Conference of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, which excludes the lcs-
tlmony of colored persons in Church trials,
in all those States of the Union whtre it is
prohibited by the municipal law. This re-
unlaIInn- haSi1as Otiar aNcnlInpt pso sn,c-
tually protects white church members against
charges of unchastity preferred by slave wo-
men.
In this way Church legislation has made
and perfected an arrangement by which The
relations of the sexes in the South (white
women eXcepted) are put upon the same
ground with that which subsists among the
beasts in our barn yards-"Where love is
liberty and nature law"
The churches South consent TO the exist
ence of Slavery, sanction it with 9heir au-
thority, and defend and cherish it with all
their influence. They allow their brethren
TO be imbruted in morals, darkened in under
standing, and gambled, bartered and sold
away from their very communion tables
They allow the family ties 10 be broken, by
every accident and caprice incident to the
system, and contribute all their spiritual pow
or to effect the utter ruin Of the victims which
the laws without their aid could not quite
accomplish. Nothing can so completely
crush out the last vesiige of humanity from
the bosom Of the slave, as the religion which
these christians impose upon him. We
say not that all these horrors stand full in
the contemplation Of the perpetrators, but
we say that these are the results. Mems
understandings can become so Garkened that
nooI onJ evil loe, Ill J;-,;,ot;,, - 49,,
War, murder and all modes of revenge, are
justified every day by the necessities which
provoke them. A man does not always feel
like a demon when he is doing a demons
deeds. Nay, he may cast out devils and do
many wondrous works in the name Of Jesus
without ever suspecting that he is destitute
Of his spirit, unit! the final judgment reveals
the fact.
1t is true that slavery cannot exist without
all these horrid compliances of the clergy
And because they see not how 10 abolish il
they comply. A Clergyman of South Caro-
lima, was called TO administer the sacrament
of the last supper to his slave; she was dy-
ing of fever brought on by labor in the cot.
ton field, aggravated by a severe fogging in
flicted by his overseer for the offence of lea
wing her work too Frequently TO nurse her
child, which was in fact sick. The minister
was convinced that she was killed in a mis-
take, but ii was a mistake, and so far excu-
sable. He believed there was no remedy for
slavery-that the slave was incapable of free.
don-that it was not wrong in itself, and its
accidents were therefore excusaOle, so far as
they were unavoidable. Thousands of slave.
holders in the South may justly claim the
benefits Of a similar plea.
The guilt Of this ignorance, nevertheless
remains but wherel Not altogether MOI
principally with the southern chutehman.-
His northern brother whom he meets il
church fellowship, in general assemblies
conferences and associations, knows better
but withholds the truth. On the soul of thai
northern brother then rests the burden of this
great guilt, An eminent Methodist clergy.
man once justified or excused the suppression
of his abolition sentiments on the ground that
a bold and faithful utterance of the truth
would cut OF his denomination from the dis.
charge of their ministerial duties to eighty
thousand slaves within their communion
They would be forbidden to carry the conso
laiion of the gospel TO all those suffering
creatures if they did any thing to awaken thu
jealousy of their masters. They matilatet
the gospel message entrusted TO them, in or
der 10 save a fragment of its blessings for tn,
slaves. Their muster directed his disciples
to shake of the very dust Of that city, whicI
rejects their message for a testimony agains
them, 10 the end that they might be warne,
of their danger and 30 brought to repentance
bat these disciples have substituted thei