Washington sentinel., 1854-02-09
From the Citizen.
John Mitchell's Reply to the Rev. III. W..
Beecher.,

Il
REVEREND SIR: You will be surprised to see
letter addressed to you by one whom you sup
posed to be dead, In your anti-slavery lecture,
as reported in the Tribune, i find that you an
nounced my deeease to large congregation /;
| and with Christian meekness repressed the
loud Kisses of your hearers, in consideration of
the respect due to the deceased. This morn
ing have read my own epitaph in the Tribune,
and even an account of the coroner's inquest,
which must have greatly affected my friends,
if have any left.
find myself therefore, in the position of
Partridge, the almanac maker, who had to
come before the public to prove himself alive,
Notwithstanding the obituary notice. of Dean
Swift; and had even much trouble in estab
fishing the fact. 1t is a hard necessity. You
may be difficult to convince, and may choose
even to regard this communication as De pro-
funds clamari, or voice from the tombs; but
| will try to satisfy your reverence.
The New York Tribune first, next small
| fry of newspapers whose names | forget, and
lastly your facetious reverence, in your paper,
The Independent, all have poured out on me a
torrent of virtuous indignation, simply because
! refused to brand as criminals large portion
of the citizens of this republic, and about one.
half of all the human beings who have ever
| lived in the world besides. You and the 1ri-
| bune, and the "benevolists" Of this enlightened
| century, have found out new crime, as if
there had not been enough before; and when
| any man hesitates TO load his fellow-creatures,
| his fellow-citizens, and forefathers, with this
lately invented sin, over and above all their
other sins, you cry out that he is "caitiff," q
| thistle" "hideous hag" and dead man.
| You write his epitaph, and find q verdict of
| felo de Sc upon his corpse.
1t seems, also, that have disappointed you
and the Tribune; which is painful But what
| if the disappointment is owing not to my fault,
but to your stupidity? For here is your rea-
soning: tried to destroy British dominion in
Ireland, but decline to say that half Of the
| American citizens are vile criminals; there
fore :" there could be no principle in my struggle
with England" Il quote from your article in
the Independently And the Tribune makes no
scruple to say that if liberty for Ireland and
the Irish is sought in the spirit evinced, and on
the principles avowed by the Citizen, it can
hardly be necessary to say that the effort will
be fraitless, and the hopes Of its champions q
mockery. Alas, for the aspirations of the OPP
pressed and exiled, if their Indictment to strug-
gle for liberty is the horrible desire of buying,
selling, and lashing each other" | confess
that can make no sense out of such language.
Benevolence is good, but alittle logic also would
be no harm. Let us see how it would apply
to another case. General Washington, the
Father ofhis Country, saw no crime and no pee
cadillo in holding slaves, and in making them
work on his farm. General Washington wished
to possess, and did possess till he died, and
always took good care of plantation stocked
with negroes, not in Alabama, but in Virginia.
Nay, he wished to possess more plantations;
otherwise he certainly never would have offered
$S,500 for Mr.. Clifton's. Thomas Jefferson,
the greatest of the founders Of American de-
mocracy, lived and died STAKEHOLDER, and be-
queathed his slaves to his relatives. Therefore
There could be no principle in their struggle
with England !" the effort ought to have been
fruitless, and the hopes of its champions a
mockery;" for "their incitement" (Jefferson's
and Washington's incitement) to struggle for
liberty was the horrible desire of buying, sell
ing, and lashing each other" If your rever-
ence would boldly speak your mind, you would
tell your hearers in the Tabernacle that Wash
ington was q caitiff and Jefferson thistle or
a hideous hag.
know what you will say-that those illustri-
Gus men, those shareholders, always felt aud
said that slavery was an incubus and a curse
to the country. Possibly it may be so. That
is subject on which gave no opinion. But
the national debt is an incubus and curse to
England, and yet many good men, believing it
to be so, hold debentures, and even go SO far
as to buy stock in the three-and-a-half per
cents.
But you, crusaders of abolition, are not con-
tent to rest the case on grounds of policy. You
will have it that those who differ from you and
agree with all the wisest of mankind are tools
and villains. You haveA number of exclama-
tions and interjections always ready, and you
IL. .clr IL 10 III
sons. "What!" you cry, "can a man be
chattel?" To which answer, why not? The
Legislator of the Jews saw no harm in it.
"Would you sell a being with an immortal
soul?" Certainly; Moses and the prophets did
the same. "Would you send back fugitive
to his master?" Assuredly; Paul the apostle
very honestly sent back the absconding Onesi-
mus, and begged of his owner, the worthy Phil.
emon, Pauls dearly ybeloved and fellow-laborer,
to forgive his returning slave.
Was Paul hideous hag? Believe me, it is
your reverence who is an old woman. You
will never get new code of morality received
among men. We will never consent to believe
that you are a better Christian than the founder
of that religion; that you love liberty better
than those immortal Greeks who invented it;
that you are truer republican than all the re-
publicans of ancient and modern times, and of
both hemispheres. This is undoubtedly great
century, and thinks it knows much; but have
always been accustomed to thank God that /
am behind my age. 1t is matter of taste.
do not affect to be ignorant that your little
school claims the founder Of the Christian reli-
gion as an abolitionist; not by reason of any
positive condemnation. or prohibition of slavery
or slave-holding, but by virtue Of what you cali
the development of the religion which you
suppose to be growing and advancing as man
grows and advances. Especially you dwell
upon the great precept "do unto others as ye
would that others should do unto you;" and
you say here is abolition in embryo. Though
laic shall venture to suggest to you, most
learned clerk, simple explanation OF that
text, which perhaps never occurred to you be-
fore. 1t MEANS do unto others as you would
wish (if they we're in your circumstances and
you in theirs) that they should do unto you.
If you are creditor, treat your debtor with
that forbearance and consideration which, if
you we're the debtor and he the creditor, you
might reasonably wish and expect him to use
towards you. This does not mean creditors
discharge your debtors free. Again, if you are