Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1854-02-20

Though laic, | shall venture to sugge
7. to you, most learned clerk, simple e,
PLANTATION of that text, which perhaps mt,
er occurred to you before: 1t means, d
unto others as you would wish Fif the
were in your circumstances and you j
theirs) that they should do unto you.
You are creditor, treat your debtor wit
/, that forbearance and consideration which
; il you were the debtor and he the creditor
! you might reasonably wish and ez pee
him to use towards you. This does nc
mean creditors discharge ) Dur debtors free
Again, if you are STAKEHOLDER, Use you
slave with gentleness, humanity, and kind
: ness, rewarding him when he does well
never furnishing him wahtonly CT oppres
: siyely-in short, just as you could reason
ably wish; were you the slave and he TIL
master, that he would behase towards you
Therefore, the injunction of the New Tes
lament is not, masters discharge you
slaves, but be meiciful to your slaves
slaves be obedient to your masters.
Bnt said something of slaves being
dashed. Yes, the very idea Of a slave in.
cludes the idea of a coercion, but does not
at all include the idea of cruelty j; and
when l wished for plantation Of me-
groes, your reverence and the Tribune,
with great candor, proclaim that want
slaves in order TO have the luxury OF
logging them. Does any man marry
wife that he may have the pleasure OF
beating his children? Yet he who spar
eth the rod spoileth the child. Does any
man buy horse for the sake Of whipping
him, Did Washington keep negroes
merely that he might indulge himself in
threshing them? In fact, 1 wanted to set
down the principle, as markedly rs pos
sible, that it is not wrong to hold slave.
From the principle it follows that IT is not
wrong to make slave work and there
is no way of making them work (in the
last resorD but dread Of the lash.
This is an ungracious task find myself
forced to undertake. On my side, in this
controversy, everything sounds harsh and
looks repulsive. Your reverence has cho-
sen, if not the better, at least the balmier
part. Yours is the privilege, dear to the
enlightened modern heart, Of uttering
kind looking sentences. 1t comes easy tc
you (for all the prevailing cants are with
you) to assume tof yourself and your fol.
lowers the credit Of benevolence and phi.
lanthropy, and enlightenment, and .pro.
gress," and all the rest of it. While /, tc
escape the charge OF barbarous cruelty and
blood-thirsty atrocity, am forced to shield
myself under the authority Of mere an.
cients-persons behind the century: per.
sons who had not the advantage of hear
ing your lectures at the Tabernacle per-
sons like the Legislator Of the Jews, and
the wise men Of the Greeks. and the fra
mers Of Declarations of Independence. II
would be easy for me also, and it would
be true, to assert that am not cruel OF
yrannical by nature that hate all OPP
preston; that if had slaves, l would in
fluence and govern them uniformly by
kindness, instead Of coercion-in short.
that would use them as humanely as JEFF
ferson himself, whose enthusiastic recep-
ton by his attached negroes on his return
to Monticello, forms so agreeable picture
IN fuckers life of that illustrious man.
1t would be easy butt do not condescend
to treat the question in this personal and
restricted manner. My position was, and
is, the naked assertion, 'that slave-hold-
ing is not crime" and that nobody ever
thought it a crime until some time towards
the close OF the last century.
For the sake of undeceiving your dis
cipies at the Tabernacle, I think it right
now to inform them (and | do it with re-
greD that you are in the habit of giving
so erroneous an account Of slavery among
the Hebrews, that Moses himself would
not know his own laws If he heard them
described in one Of your reverence's lee
lures. You say that the Mosaic law did
not indeed prohibit slavery, but surround
ed the system with such restrictions as te
make il very inconyenient and finally tc
abolish it. The very ingenious authoress
of "Uncle Toms Cabin" in her ..key'
to the same, has asserted, quoting a Mr.
Barnes Tor it, that although Hebrews nigh
buy slaves they could not sell them and
again, that there was an enactment requir
ing Hebrew shareholders to liberate thei
slaves every fifth year. These are state
ments which you and your school seem (,
take on trust from Mrs. Stowe and Mr.
Barnes; but you will find that il is unsafi
to rely for facts Of this kind upon pam
phleteers or lady-novelists. Undoubtedly
some of your hearers and some CT thu
readers Of Uncle Tom will be surprised
to hear there were no such enactments a
all, except in reference to that class o
slaves who were children of Israel.
The Mosaic law commanded the Israel
ties to buy slaves from the 'heathen VIII
were round about" These slaves 1t com
handed them to take as an inheritance for
ever. Eye shall take them as an inheri
lance for your children after you, to in
herit them for possession they shall b
I your bondmen torerer. But over you
brethren, the children Of Isael, We sha
not rule over one another with rigor."-
Q.evit. XIV. 49,
In the year Of jubilee, liberty was to b
proclaimed throughout the land, "to a
the inhabitants thereof" but is it posi-
: BILE for learned theologian, like you
r reverence. not to be aware that foreig
r slaves were never spoken Of as inhabi
; tants of the land, but as strangers and SC
journers? II is in this very same chapte
e that foreign slaves are declared to be thei
S inheritance and their possession forever
"Moses" says the learned commentatc
It Michaelis specified two periods at whic
| the Hebreu servant was TO regain his fret