Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1852-03-17
roR THE SPEC TAToR.
Letters to Northern UniOnists ON
the Scripture View Of Slavery.
WEST VIRGINIA, March, 1852.
LETTER NO. 8.

LETTER NO. 9.
WEST VIRGINIA, March, 1852.
Meaning Of a right Of properly in s'aces.-
.Noah's prophecy.-.adraham rery great
slare.hoider, and al The same time q holy
man, andaPqrored Of God.
RESPECTED FRIENDs,-As we are about
to commence an examination, somewhat
critical, of the Scripture testimony on the
subject of slavery, with special view to
the decision of the question Whether a
master can have right of property in his
slaves, which will justify him in holding
them, like other property, for his own ben
eft it is important that we have clear
and CORE ct idea of what is meant by such
a right of property. Obscurity of thought,
and error of sentiment, on this point, have
been tie cause of large portion of the alb
surdity, and the virulence, which have mark
ed the writings and speeches of abolition
lists. 1t has been said, that when man is
made property, he is no longer person,
but thing. Buying and selling slaves has
been declared to be traffic in the bones
and sinews of human beings. Now there
is not one word of truth in either Of these
assertions. A right fproperty in anything,
is simply right to have and TO use it ac-
cordlng 10 its nature. A horse is as much
an article of property as stick Of timber;
but it does not follow, tina! his owner has
right to hew and hack him as he would
the timber. No more does it follow, that
when one man is the property of another,
he may be used like brute. The slave
laws ofno country ever authorized any such
thing. The right of property in slave au-
thorizes the master to use him as person
and therefore it does not make him thing.
Not only the Constitution of the United
States but the laws of all the Southern
States, recognize slaves as persons. The
right of property in slave Is not right OF
property in his flesh and bones; nor even
in his property. 1t is common in the South.
for slaves to possess property, to which their
masters lay no more claim than the aboll-
tionists do. The right of master to his
slave is, in reality, only righ 10 his ssrrl-
ces, and to such services as human beng
NAV properly render. Whatever control
he has over the person of the slave is SUBJ
s:diary to this light. This right of service
does not differ, in its nature, from The right
which an employer has 10 the labor of
hireling. The only difference is in the or
igin of these rights; the one resulting from
contract the other, from authority Legal
ly conferred. When the subject is prop
erly understood, the only real question with
regard to it is Whether it is competent
for any government in any case, to confer
on one man the right to exact service from
another without the consent of the latter.
1t has been we'll remarked by an able wrl-
ter, in Northern periodical, that elf alb
olitionists could disabuse their minds OF
their crude ideas on the subject of property,
though they might find they had lost near
ly all their stock in trade, they would at
least have the satisfaction of understanding
what they are writing about"
The first Scripture notice Of slavery IS
contained in the prophetic declaration OF
Noah, Gen. 8: 25-27, "And he said, Ours
ed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall
he be unto his brethren. And he SAID, Bles-
sed be the Lord God of Shcm; and Canaan
shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Ja-
pheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of
Shem: and Canaan shall be his servant"
It is here predicted that the descendants OF
Ham, or some of them, are to be slaves to
those of Shem and Japheth. There can be
no question that slaves are spoken OF. The
Hebrew word for servant is, IN this passage,
ebed The expression cbed e6edim, servant
of xsryanis. is the Hebrew intensive, and
signifies the most abject slave. The Sew
enty translate it oikeies, domestic slave.
The staple fact, however, that slavery is
foretod, decides nothing with regard 10 the
morality of slaveholding. But this passage
contains something more than simple pre-
dction; it embraces curse and blessing.
The curse fails upon Canaan and dooms
him to slavery. This does not look like his
being enslaved for his own benefit. If then
slavery be defensibe on no other ground,
then those who enslave him must be highly
criminal; and must expect thcmselves to
meet the curse of the Almighty. But in
stead of a curse they receive blessing
That of Shem consists of two parts. The
first is that Jehovah Is to be his God ; the
second that he is to be slave owner
The blessing of Japheth consists of three
parts. The first is that God shall enlarge
him, that is, make him great and powerful;
the second, that he shall dwell in the tents
of Shem, succeed to the enjoyment OF his
spiritual privileges ; the third, that he also
shall be a slave owner, Now if slavehold-
ing be robbery, could it be a blessing to be
an owner of slaves Would any christian
parent be pleased TO be assured that his son
would become successful pirate? If slave
holding be sinful, it must surely be less de-
sirable to be STAKEHOLDER, than to be
slave; for il is better to suffer wrong than
to do wrong. But further; God is not a
shamcd to be called the God of Shem, al
though he holds fellow-man in bondage.
Shem is still recognized as true worship
per, and is approved of his Maker. The
same may be said of Japheth. For besides
becoming powerful, he has Jehovah for his
Coo. when he dwells in the tents of Shem.
The prophecy was fulfilled in part, when
the Israelites, who were descended from
Shem, reduced many Of the Canaanltes TO
bondage in the time OF Joshua. They were
at the same time the favored people of God.
In this prophecy, Canaan is isno doubt put
for the posterity of Ham in general. Ham
had son named Ccsh. This is the He
brew name for Ethiopia, as Misralm is for
Egypt. The Ethiopians are the colored
race. The name is derived from two Greek
words which signify to burn the face. The
prophecy has therefore received further
accomplishment in the slavery of those AT
ricans, who are held in bondage by the Eu-
ropean race, the descendants of Japheth,
who are now dwelling in the tents of Shem.