The Kansas herald of freedom., 1855-06-30
Censorship.

y
fully appreciated. nor is it generally
known that not only our religion and ouI
politics, but our literature and our school
books are made accessories to its support
and propagation. A correspondent the
other day startled US with an allegation
that the books issued by leading reli
gious denomination have been emascula
ted of all utterances against slavery. We
are not prepared to state this absolutely
as fact; but it viii soon be exposed i
true. We know that Longfellow, with &
cravenness that must have degraded him
infinitely in his own esteem, consented tc
an edition of his poems from which all
his anti-slavery sentiments were expur.
gated ; we are assured, too, that our Sun.
day school books have undergone the
same expunction; the American Tract
Society is also charged with dealing with
its publications in similar manner; and
it is not, therefore, an improbabiiity that
religious bodies may have yielded to sim.
liar influences. If they have not, we
shall be pleased to know it; bat if they
have, it will only serve to show how ON.
nipotently, in church and state, this gi.
gantic sin ofslavery rules us. 1t sileHc.
es the pulpits wherever it can: gags the
newspaperpress wherever itcan be reach.
ed /; endeavors to choke off discussion in
the halls of legislation /; sets up an Lude,
Eapurgotorius to free our religious and
literary works from words of condemna.
ton upon the aceursed system; and is as
tyrannical in its censorship generally, as
was ever Pope or despot in the old
world.
The latest instance of this offensive and
intolerabie censorship is manifested in
our school books. The matter is thus
brought forward in the Albany Evening
Journal, and we ask attention to its de-
velopements =
"Look at your boys school declama.
ton book-a reprint from an English one
What has become of Pitts stirring de-
nunciation of the slave trade? Where
are the extracts from Fox's speech on the
Emancipation bill? Where is Washing
toms Will emancipating his slaves p
Gone. Pruned out by the eensors of th,
American press. Look at your girl''
reader. What has become of Cowper'
lines, 81 would not have slave" &c.
once quoted in every edition of To-
| Where are Hannah More's letters on tn
same subject? +? Gone. Pruned out b,
the scissors of the American censor
Take any school biography published il
this country. Why does it omit to men
ton what Jefferson and Hamilton ant
Jay did and said about slavery, when j
does not omit to mention that they wer,
Shareholders? Why does it omit t.
mention Lafayette's opinions on slavery
when it does not omit to mention his sup
port of monarchy? Why does it leave
out all mention of Wilberforce and Sbarpt
and Clarkson, as if such men never ex
listed ? Why does it so family and fee
bly, allude to the ordinance freeing the
Northwest Territory, when it is so lavish
of the political cant about the compromi
ses? Ask the ingenious pen of The
American Censor.
Pick out, if you can, a Geography
which dares to tell school boys what the
real reason is why the ''fertile soil and
salubrious climate" of the South is less
productive than the cold and rugged
North. You can pick out dozen which
tell them "the inhabitants of the southern
States are noted above the rest of the
union for their hospitality. chivalry and
love Of freedom"
ReadtAe1 histories. Read how dainti.
ly the historian touches on the evils of the
system, and how vigorously he paints the
evils sure to flow from disturbing it.
Read how concldsisely he lays it all on
/ the shoulders of "the British" and how
satisfactorily he proves it not to be ouI
fault at all. Read how minutely he de.
scribes the kindness of masters to theil
slaves, and search in vain for the fact
that masters ever die and slaves are eveI
sold. Compare his tame accounto of the
''old man eloquent" when he had at
tanned the hight of ambition, going bacl
to subordinate place, to labor for free
dom and to Idle in the harness"
pare this with his glowing eulogy on ths
brilliant craftsmanship of the South Car
Gilman who spent his life in endeavorine
to overthrow the union. Read the his
tory your children are taught to believe
and say. if you honestly can. that you be-
lieye it yourself.
Even the stories of Mrs. Barbauld ant
DR.. Akin, which talk of slavery thou
sand miles of, or centuries ago, are ex
purga:ed before they are submitted TO al
American public. Sunday school stories
Lare struck fiom the list, which inculcat'
the duty of christianizing black-heatheI
any where except in Africa. In one edi
ton. at least that we know of, hymn
have been left out of school hymn
book, because they thanked God for Lib
.erty
Who are the censors that have take
upon themselves the responsibility of al
tering our whole educational system {
suit temporary and local Institution
There is no organized board. There j
no committee, no teacher. no publisher
probably, that would acknowledge it,
Yet there be such committees, sue
teachers, and such publishers-for ther
are the books. expurgated, emasculsted
mutilated-in order that Thrift ma,
follow fawning.'
/ If persons choose to get up books 70
the southern market it is their unques
tionable right to do so, as often as the,
please aad as proftably as they can. Blu
it is quite time the schools Of the fre'
States were relieved from distorted his
tories and mangled quotations from
American oratory. It is their right
nay, their duty-not to hide from thei
pupils what their forefathers thought
and what all philosophy and christiaRit.
concur in saying Of the institutions 0
their country. No one would deprecat
more earnestly than We should, any at
tempt TO introduce political or anti-sla
very textbooks or to interpelate poiitica
or anti-slaFery sentiments. But we in
sist that history, biography. oratory, po
etry and science should be left as the,
are, and not be garbled and perverted {