The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-03-17

piety in America, but whose lives are polluted
with the guilt Of slavehoIding; men who, re-
nowned for their defence Of the authenticity Of
the Bible, bring that holy record forward to sane
ton a system which almost necessItates the com
mission of the most heinous sins that can dis
grace humanity to come into social contact with
The inhabitants Of this land We shall, ere long,
be visited by ministers of the gospel, who IN
the powerful language Of Frederick Doug lass
welding the blood-clotted cowskin during the
week, fill the pulpit on Sunday, and claim to be
disciples Of the meek and owls Jesus There
says this eloquent orator, referring in recent
lecture to the Southern States
'sThe man who robs me OF my earnings ut the
end of each week, meets me class-leader on
Sunday morning, to show me the way to life and
salvation. He who sells my sister for the bases
purposes stands forth the advocate OF purity;
and he who proclaims the religious dutyofperusng
the Bible, denies me the right TO read the name OF
the God that made me. The warm defender of
the sacredness Of the family relation, is the same
who scatters whole families, sunderng husbands
and wives, parents and children, sisters and broth
ers, leaving the hut vacant, and the hearth DESC
late.
If it be considered necessary for the health
and personal security of the visitors at the APP
preaching exhibition, that extensive sanatory
measures and large protective force be called
into operation, spiritual police is not the less
needed to prevent the spread Of moral pest-
lence through our land. And in few direc-
tons will its efforts be more dsirable than in
watching against the insidious misrepresenta-
tons of the pro-savery ministers. Nor will
those who openly defend slavery be our most
formidable invaders. There is another more
dangerous class ministers from the Free States,
protesting hostility to slavery, but in reality
sanctoning it under various pretexts. They
are, however, easily recognized by the expe-
rienced friend of the slave, for they betray GER
tain unmistakable characters. When an Amer
lean minister is met with declaring that he views
slavery in the abstract as sin, but will not
admit that shareholders are sinners when in
addition, he condemns the Abolit on;sts main
tanning that they have eXasperated the slave
holders, rivetted the bonds of the slave, and re-
tarded the period Of emancipation yet while
passing these censures, is unable to show what
he has himself done or attempted in better
way towards lberating the captive, we may de-
pend upon it that that man is one of the 'bul-
warks of American slavery
As no public meetings in reference to Amer-
can slavery have been called in the metropolis at
the present momentous crisis in this question,
(giving slrong evidence, if such were needed,
that the anti-slavery feeling which once existed
in England lies buried in torpor,) it is greatly,
to be hoped that the ministers throughout the
country may exercise the needed watchfulness
rs to the American BRETHREN" who may soon
be expected to visit our shores, boldly inquiring
of them what has been their course in relation
to slavery, and faithfully protecting their own
pulpits from being desecrated by the unhalowed
services of shareholders aud their defenders
This question of human rights--this duty to the
cause of the helpless slave--is of too solemn
character to be tri1ed with even the conven,
tonal laws of hospitality ought not to stand in
the way of the "higher law"
No one pretends to deny that it is the religi-
Gus bodies of America who maintain slavery, or
that, if they were faithful to their duty to God
and man, this iniquity would at once terminate
The church holds the key of the slaves dungeon,
and she will not unlock the door and "let the
captive go free"
Under circumstances so awful, it surely be
comes the duty of England as Christian
country, to exert all the moral influence she
possesses in pointing out to her brethren Of the
United States their unhappy position. We send
missions to eyangelize the heather in savage
lands; why should we pass by three millions of
human beings in a Christian country, suffering
all the ills of physical bondage, of mental thra-
dom, and of Pagan darkness, who are signing
for liberty, instruction, and the glorious light Of
the Gospels The sentiment Of the religious
and intelligent mind of England cannot but
have great weight with our fellow Christians
across th Atlantic. 1t would be a labor Of love
and of mercy to them, as we'll as to the slave
to enlighten their understandings, and awaken
their consciences. Could more fitting work
be performed, than for each section of the reli-
gious world of Great Britain and Ireland to
send a friendly remonstrance to those churches
of the United States, with which they sympa-
thze in doctrine and discipline, upon their du
ties and their dangers in relation to slavery ?
Let it be remembered that the existence of sla-
very is more to be deprecated in the United
States, than in any other part of the world
where it still prevails. For there it sins against
greater liberty and greater light. The popua-
ton of the States is now nearly twenty mil
lions, and its increase is so rapid, that it is es-
timated that it will amount to one hundred and
fifty millions in another century. The United
States are the asylum Of the poor and the OPP
pressed of other lands; and apart from the
mere consideration of sympathy with the col
ored race, is it not of infinite Importance to the
whole world that suoh country should aim, in
the might of Christian truth and impartial lib
erty, to purify herself from the foul and dis.
graceful pollution of slavery?
From the Washington Union