Southern standard. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1851-1856, 1853-01-22
Slavery against Freedom as Social Inau-
~ - Anura. #


cr;tc;sm on Uncle Toms Cabin work which has |
aec3dently- reached the editor, and which he an
nounees as recently published. To show the view
he takes of slavery, We copy the following pas
sape. which heintroduces In speaking of the views
Northern people entertain of it,
..The new exegesis of inspired revelation has
failed, it may be, to convince them that Christ
would not have failed to denounce, during his
Earth Mission, all that was cursed IN the sight Of
His Father Begrt as we are taught to believe
He was by Slavery--to have walked by day and
slept by night amidst this EVit-to have seen its
inhumanity unreproyed; to have known of the
horrid and disgusting vices it is said to engender
to have seen the human misery and very refine
ment of woe that accompanies it;--way say, for
Christ to have seen this, and not to have denounc-
ed it--ay to have passed judgment of expatria-
ton from the land against it's Strongel But
it is not we that will step into the defence of in
stituton nearly as old as the record Of man; that
has passed through the mutations of time and the
variable changes of human society," and yet stands
before the God of the Prophets and Apostles, as
vigorous as it is possible for any human institu
ton to be-
We fondly imagine at the North that TIE people
of the South are looking abont for some way to
abolish slavery. We are told by conservatives and
Office hunters, to let them alone, that then they
will get rid of the evil and that it would be near
err its end now, if we had never made 1t subject
of discussion. Let us not deceive ourselves on
this subject. The Southern people do not mean
to abolish slavery. They are resolved to strength
en- and extend to it the utmost of their power
Many persons in the South, as here, have no clear
view of the subject, but those who have, almost
all agree in full with the editor of the Standard,
though many of them think the time has not yet
come for giving their opinion clear expression.
That slavery will end in this country at not
very distant PERIOD we fully believe. But it will
not be ended by Southern reason or by Southern
humanity. 1t will be either through a system Of
legislation for which the country seems not yet
prepared, OF through the corroding and destruc-
tive power of slavery itself. Votare asserts that
community of atheists could not hold together.
He means speculative atheists Yet what destrlc-
tive influence is there in abstract atheism compar-
ed with the actual Reputation Of reverence, mo-
rality, humanity, and common decency involved
in the American system of slavery? Robbery is
its very escence, and it practices barbartes as vir
tuous, or at least, as law supporting actions 1t
hardens and deadens all the sentiments which
make man magnanimous and social people
that could exist through many ages cherishing
such a system, without quarreling with and butch
ering each other, would have reason to sound their
own praises in fourth of July orations, for they
would be triumphant over experience, logic, and the
| moral government Oh the universe.
That such will not be the history of the South
is already proved. The editor of the Standard
makes an attack on Northern society which is not
often surpassed in abusiveness. He seems to think
he can by such means prove that slavery is better
as a foundation for social system than freedom
If all his statements were proved the world would
hardly accept his inference But his statements
are not true alone and still less when used to draw
contrasts between Northern and Southern social
morals. Few persons at the North have any ade-
quate conception of the ignorance idenesS, pro-
family, and dissipation which prevail and are rap
! idly increasing in the Southern States. There is
little conversation there that can prove satsfacto
ry to an intelligent man from any civilized coun-
try. Among groups Of men he finds it general
y coarse and indecent trifling, if not dishonest
or silly, he finds it everywhere A people whose
social system is based on fraud and deception are
unlikely to devote themselves to the con,empla
ton of Justice and pursuit of truth. Every prn
ciple opposes them, and as they feel this they In
stinctively silence and Danish it.
This is felt in nearly all Southern conversation
1t has not that searching, comprehensive tone
which peryades intelligent circles in the North
Critics have remarked that America will not have
her profoundest scholars till she has wealthy or
der who can neglect labor and devote themselves
exclusively to learning. The South not only has
tiles find labor limited to slaves, whose degrade
ton it shares in public estimation, and hardly
know how to emp " their time. Yet to what sin
gle man of hers can she point whose attachments
in literature or science have gained world wide
or even an American reputation. She has brllllan
orators and moderately good essayists and roman
GERS, but no profound and successful scholars
We have not forgotten Lieutenant Maury. A
superintendent of our national observatory he ha
one of the best opportunities in the world for max
profound mathematical knowledge or scholarship
are not claimed for him.
Southern writers often appeal to Northern cour
statistics to prove that crime is more prevalen
here than among them. This is obviously faaci
and the whip and bowie knife for the reparation 0
wrongs than on courts. If the influential resort t.
them but little, still less will those whose poverty
leaves them scarcely a. chance of success The
; masters will hardly ask expensive courts to punish
ganst slaves who wish to complain of the crimes o
i their masters or any whites. OF what value are
court statistics in such community. Slave hold
their slaves, and if they themselves were within
cape the House of Correction, and most of then
would suffer punishment for actions of which they
now make daily boast
While the north is region ofprogress the soutl
is one of decay. All evils have growth which il
natural till their cause is removed. So with those
!, of slavery. Ignorance and vices are on the in
crease. The land becomes sterile. The best farms
are worn out The best masters emigrate to new
=