The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-02-03
Fer the National Bra.
SLAVERY AND IT'S DEFENDYRs.
~ "A NORTH cARoLINIAN.
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M NORTH oARoLINIAS.
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| come now to an unpleasant task, and in
troduce it with the following quotations from
-" A Carolinisno He says
Mrs. Stoves favorite illustration of the
masters power so the injury of the slave is
the separation of families. We are told of
infants ten months old, being sold from the
arms of their mothers and of men whose habit
it is to raise children to sell away from their
mothers as soon as they are old enough to be
separated Were our views of this feature of
Slavery to be derived from Mrs Stoves book,
we should regard the families Of slaves RS ut
terly unsettled and vagrant. IL such were the
case, We should not be prepared to find in the
race that exquisite sensbiity which Mrs Stowe
claims for it. For God, in his wisdom, tenn
pers the wind 10 the sborn lamb And if
African mothers were permitted such slight
indulgence of the maternal affection, the ma
ternal instinct would mercifully be blunted in
them. We would not speak
lightly of such an evil as the destruction Of
family ties. We deplore it AZ one of the hard
necessities of the poor mans position upon the
earth. In Slavery we know that it exists AZ
yet more than is necessary to the system,
Every day. however greater efforts are made
TO lessen the evil. And be il
remembered that there is no separation like
the gulf that opens between members of the
same family, when crime comes in between
them. We feel confident, that
if statistics could be had to throw light upon
the subject, we should find that there is less
separation of families among the negroes than
lp,na ar hal al Of pa
Among the rich, the pursuits of education, ths
| claims Of extended business. no facilities ant
Inducements Of travel are all motives which
| do not enter into the case of the slave. 1t i
| true that the separation induced by thes,
causes siesvOluntary, and not 80 complete Al
| with the negro but such is not the case with
the great mass of emigrants aud with The
peasants of foreign countries.
In the sales (of savesl they are, rs far rs pos.
| sible, sold together"
count of the practice of separating families
in order that the reader may see his strong de-
sire to extenuate and palliase an enormity OF
which he is unable to deny the existence.
There is one broad general answer, which may
be given to all that the defenders and apollo
gists of Slavery have TO say upon this branch
all the slaveholding States, except Delaware
warrant the master in separating husbands
and wives, and infants from tho breasts Of their
mothers. They may separate them by thou
sands of miles and no man has n right TO in
terpose in the name of violated humanity, TO
prevent the cruel deed This il undeniabe
II cannot be denied, either, that every free per-
son, however vicious and depraved, has the un-
limited legal power to own, TO buy, and TO sell,
slaves ut his pleasure. And ! might, without
a single fact, safely leave it to the common
sense of mankind To Judge how far the worst
men in society are likely TO be restrained by
moral considerations in the exercise Of power
which the law confers upon them. This view
of the subject must be sufficient to satisfy every
man of candor Let him reflect how difficult
il is TO restrain from evil where the dictates Of
religion and morality are sanctioned and en-
forced by rigid laws and penalties, and he will
be able to conjecture what bad men will do
when the law warrants their wickedness, and
sternly upholds them in its perpetration.
. "A Carolnian il much disposed to be OBJ
livous Of the actual workings of Slavery in
this particular yet he Is not % uncandid as
wholly to deny, or 20 unjust ~ wholly TO do
fend the practice Of Separating families. But
must say that ms account OF IL tails 20 Tar
short of the truth. ~ to amount to gross mis-
representation. There Is Scarcely county IN
the large slave districts OF the South-.that 10
to say, where the slaves constitute third or
more Of the peopls-which has not one, two, or
more slaye-tradcrs, who occupy themselves in
the business OF buying and selling slaves
They buy in the old States and drive or ship
their bped cattle to tho Southwest VIII not
say that these persons are entirely reckless OF
the happiness OF the negroes, though there Is not
one OF them who has not sundered tho matrimo.
NAL and parental tic oftener than ne has sent
droves 70 the market Ihey generally adyer-
nse tor LIKELY young negroes, u"der winch
head married men unaer Ior.y, ana women un,
dor thirty, are bought without scrupie, ana
the women are often iorceo 70 leave Den'nd
their infant children J nave Seen TINS done,