New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-11-06
The Higher Law-Rcturning slaves.

To The Editor 81 me 41ttGne:
make no choice of your columns for this COM
municaton, merely because you are the friend OF
free discussion on all subjects affecting the we'll
being of mankind, neither do l take this liberty
because of any right possess to intrude my opin-
ions upon your notice, bnt because, among the pub
lie journals of this City, The Ty7baae stands pre-
eminent for its independence Of spirit and high
moral tone.
Much has been said and written about the alb
sur5ity Of believing in higher law, and great
has been the opposition with which Southerners
aud their friends in the North regard 1t; yet am
far very far, from being convinced that the ques,
ton is properly understood By the majority OF
those who condemn it.
Your remarks on the communication Of +. NJ.
c." are very conclusive on this point and alto
gether unanswerabe as far as they go but as the
subject is one OF great moment, and most init
matey connected with our duties as rational crea-
tures-the right performance or observance of
which is of eternal Importance to every man, per-
nit me a few words in reply to your correspond
ent He says =" The passage you quote from
Deut xiii i5 Il, does not refer to the escape OF
a slave or servant of master who is Hebrew,
to another Hebrew, being OF the same nation or
kindred Jas is this great Lnion without reference
to North or South but to the escape OF the Hea-
then to the Hebrews evidently concluding all
persons of color without the pale of civilization,
and denying to them equal privileges with him
self If this is not an assumption OF other Law
than any delivered by Moses, | don't know what
is Is it possible that Il. NJ. c. never read OF
the deliverance Of the Hebrews from their Egyp-
tan task masters Can he, in the face OF this
fact denv. that the great law giver OF Israel knew
+iop Of tho vi ThOu shalt
deliver unto his master the servant which is esca-
ped from his master unto thee ." To believe that
Moses was ignorant Of the meaning Of what he
uttered is not more absurd than to suppose that
he forgot his possibility to God for all that he
taught to the Hebrews
That the children of Israel believed in high
er aw" than the enaCtments OF men, is very evil
dent from the fact that all the commands delivered
to them by Moses, were accompanied either by
the threatening of Gods wrath in case of their
failing to observe them or with his blessing prom
sed to those who should keep them, and to pre-
vent the possibility of being misunderstood, it is
distinctly stated in the XXIIId chap. V. 7 Thou
shalt not abhor an Edomite for he is thy brother
thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian, because thou
vast a stranger in his and and again, IN the
xxIyth chap. Il, "Thou shalt not Cypress an
hired servant that is poor and needy, whether ne
be of thy brethren or of thy strangers that are in
thy land within thy gates " But thou shalt re-
member that thou vast bondman in Egypt and
the Lord thy God redeemed thee thence; there
fore | command thee to do this thing.
Now, if the word servant as used by the sa
cred writer, should be understood to mean
slave how can those slave masters, who pro
fess to be enlightened and who have such exalted
opinions of themselves who claim to be Chris
tians and not Heathens-how can they with any
degree of propriety expect others to believe their
assertions, when they not only act toward the
poor slave as if he was brute, but actually dis